Aurora Bourealis:The Story of Renesmee C Cullen
by MorningSkyeSong
Summary: We all know Bella lived happily ever after with Edward, but how did things go for Nessie after Breaking Dawn? Just how normal can life be for someone who doesn't belong in either the mythological world or the natural? For those who still wanted more!
1. Chapter 1

**Aurora Bourealis**

**PG-13. (Some slight mature content)**

**This is going to be Renesmee's story, but I'm starting it from Bella's point of view so you all can get a better idea of how she is from the outside, to watch her growing up rather than feeling it, just yet. It works better that way for the direction I'm going to take the story in.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. My favorite author, Stephenie Meyer, does. Lucky her.**

**Chapter 1, Part 1.**

The sky began to gradually lighten in the east, and I sighed and stroked Edward's hair. He lay with his head on my chest, as he had done so many times in the past to listen to the beat of my heart. We had been together all night, following the moment when I first was able to let him hear my thoughts. As the hours passed, I had lifted my mental shield time and time again as another treasured moment would make its way into my remembrance. Each time, the look of adoration and wonder in his eyes as he heard my mind's voice made my stone heart feel as though it would surely melt. Sometimes, though, the memory would kindle a flame of desire in his tawny eyes, and with a hungry kiss, we would be off again on another piece of our perfect forever.

I sighed, and patted his head. He looked up at me with a radiant smile.

"It's time we got … er… disconnected, don't you think?" I smiled. "Renesmee will be waking up soon and it wouldn't be too kosher for her to wander in and find us like this."

He chuckled and kissed the edge of my jaw. "I'd hear her thoughts if she was going to wake up, love. Don't worry. Besides, she did go to bed rather late last night, and there is the advantage of her being half human to add to her exhaustion from the _other_ ordeals."

I knew he was referring to the Volturi and our near massacre by them. I shuddered.

He felt that. "Shh, my love," Edward whispered. "They will not hurt us again. Aro has seen your ability and your determination, and the strength of both were quite sufficient to put a damper on his usually ambitious spirit."

"I was just so horrified," I said, whispering too. "I was afraid that after everything had turned out so perfectly he was just going to come and ruin it all. Everything, Edward.

Everything I had ever dreamed or imagined… or even wasn't able to imagine. . . I . . . I . . ."

"Shh," he said again. He looked down into my eyes curiously, and slowly, the curiosity was replaced by a wicked, sly glint. His mouth curved upward into that irresistible crooked smile that I loved so much. "It seems I'm going to have to tamper with your memory—again," he breathed.

He brought his head down to the corner of my mouth and traced the contours of my lips with his tongue. My breath caught in my throat, and once again I waited for the reaction of my pulse thudding in my veins that would never happen again. That didn't mean that I was obsolete of feelings at all, however. Far from it. Every limb on my body tingled with the electricity that shot through it at his touch. His left hand came up and rested on my neck briefly before sliding down the curve of my shoulder and continuing down my arm. Our fingers intertwined when his hand reached mine. With his other hand he reached up and ran his fingers through my hair as he planted kisses in a steady line down my throat and over my collarbone. Our breaths came quicker as I stroked his bare back, sculpted with muscles that I could feel contract beneath my palm with each movement he made.

He brought his face back up to mine and grinned.

"What was it you were saying?" he asked playfully.

I responded by grabbing his head and pulling him back down to where I could press my lips against his. A chuckle escaped his throat just a split second before a groan of pleasure did. Our bodies began moving in unison again, and continued that way until the sun was well over the horizon.

**Chapter 1, Part 2.**

When the sun was shining brightly through the window, casting rays of golden light onto everything it touched, Edward looked up at me and smiled.

"I think it's time we took your earlier advice and 'disconnected'," he laughed quietly. Just then, I heard a rustling from the adjoining room and the quick heartbeat that had been the background to our night picked up speed.

"She's awake," I whispered. I was loath to leave him now, after what had just passed I was still hungry for more, but a small portion of my newly expanded mind whispered to me that I was a mother now and had responsibilities. I sighed and planted a quick kiss on his lips before easing myself away from him.

"I feel awfully dutiful," I complained. "Why did she have to wake up just when it was getting so good?" I rolled over and off the bed and picked up the sheet that had fallen to the ground during the night. Tossing it onto the bed, I sped into the closet Alice had so graciously made for me—I thought the word "_graciously"_ with quite a bit of sarcasm—and sniffed the air in search of the familiar, comforting scent of denim. Ah, that's right. I remembered now the dresser Edward had pulled the jeans from that first night we spent in here. I made a beeline for it and opened the second drawer.

Wow. Jeans in every color imaginable greeted me from the inside. What was _with_ Alice? Seriously, I couldn't picture myself in half the shades here. Electric purple? Neon green? This girl was too much. I muttered to myself about vampire fashionistas as I dug through the folds of denim in search of a more neutral hue. Edward was suddenly behind me, his arms snaked around my waist and his face nestled in the hollow between my throat and shoulder. His breath on my neck was beginning to drive me insane.

"Uh, Edward?" I faltered. "If you want to preserve the innocence of Nessie's eyes you had better not start with that right now." Already my breath was quickening and my stomach throbbed with desire.

He didn't respond, just slowly slid his nose up and down my throat twice, followed by a feather light kiss just under my ear. He blew lightly on it for a moment and then paused. I took advantage of the moment to focus on breathing in a normal pattern. "Edward," I gasped.

He chuckled and kissed my neck once more before releasing me and leaning against the dresser.

"You really shouldn't do that, you know," I accused him as soon as I had caught my breath.

"Do what? Dazzle you?" he asked with a grin. "No," I replied. "Electrocute me."

"Is that what it feels like to you? That doesn't sound too pleasant," he teased. I looked at him with a dubious expression before turning back to the task at hand. Finally! I grinned and pulled out a faded pair of blue jeans with rips in them. Leave it to Alice to be fashion conscious even in the simple thing of blue jeans… they had to have rips in the knees. Not exactly my first choice, but it wasn't like I had much of a selection, even within the extreme variety buried in my drawer. Whatever. They would have to do. I slipped into them and couldn't help admiring how comfortable they were despite the tears. They hugged my hips perfectly and…they made my butt look darn good, if I might say so myself. I chuckled to myself as I opened the third drawer and pulled out a pink, airy blouse with ruffles around the neckline that dipped low before ending in buttons that continued down my belly.

I pulled it on and twirled in front of Edward. He smiled approvingly. "You almost look better in that than you did a few minutes ago. . .hmmm."

He sauntered towards me and caught me around the waist again. Pulling me to him, he pressed his lips softly to mine and sighed. His lips parted, and I breathed in his delicious scent. That did me in. I reached up and twisted my fingers into his hair, pulling him closer as I tasted the lavender that permeated every inch of his mouth. Just then, a whimper snapped us both to attention.

"Renesmee," I whispered. "Darn."

We straightened up and it suddenly occurred to me that he was dressed in a white button down that hung over his jeans.

"When did you…" I began, but just shook my head.

"You are indeed quite unobservant when your attention is directed otherwise," he laughed. We headed out the door and down the hall to Renesmee's room where we could hear her strumming her fingers along the iron bars of her crib. Edward paused when we reached the door and swung it open so I could go inside first.

Renesmee looked up and her face lit up like a thousand sparklers. "Mommy!" she cried, reaching out to me with all her strength. Her fists opened and closed in excitement as I closed the distance between us. I bent down to scoop her up into my arms, meanwhile searching rather frantically to see what changes might have occurred during the night. I was terrified to miss anything, at the speed she was maturing with. Not many, I noted to my relief. Her bronze ringlets hung to the base of her back now, and she was the slightest bit slimmer than she had been yesterday. Her brown eyes gazed up at me, filled with love, and her cheeks were flushed a brilliant pink. She looked well rested, I decided.

Nessie pressed her palm against my cheek and a look of expectance passed over her small features. A picture of Jacob filled my mind, with her in his arms, and Rosalie approaching with a metal cup. I winced as the smell coming from the cup made itself painfully known in my throat. "Okay, Nessie," I said quickly. "Let's get you some breakfast." I turned to face Edward and she reached out for him with a radiant smile lighting up her face. Edward's expression softened beyond anything I had seen before as he reached out and took her. She pressed her hand to his cheek and he smiled. "I missed you too, Nessie," he said.

We headed out the door and passed through the living room on our way out. I paused again to admire the fireplace, which was my favorite part of the house… well, besides the bedroom. We walked out the door then and broke into a sprint instantly, trees and bushes flying past us at ridiculous speeds. I still hadn't gotten entirely used to the_ speed_ at which I was able to go. It was simply exhilarating.

In a matter of seconds we were at the large white house. The door swung open and in the frame stood a tall, dark shape that I immediately knew was Jacob. Renesmee knew too, apparently. She struggled in Edward's arms until he put her down with an expression torn between amusement and frustration. Amusement at her excitement and frustration at the fact that it was Jacob she wanted to go to, I assumed.

"Jakey!" she shouted as she dashed up the wooden steps. She jumped onto his shoulders in one lithe movement. I stopped, frozen in amazement. She was only the size of a three or four year old, and… had she really just jumped six feet and seven inches into the air?

Edward glanced over at me and burst out laughing at my expression.

"I was shocked, too, but your expression just ruined it for me," he guffawed.

"Is there another bear choking out there?" Emmett's voice boomed from inside the house.

I regained my sanity and started moving again. Stepping through the doorway, I saw everyone inside grinning from ear to ear as they watched Renesmee and Jacob. She was dancing in circles around him, at a speed that would have been too fast for human eyes to see. He was trying to catch her but wasn't having much luck with it. I felt a secret twinge of pleasure at that fact. Jacob wasn't as fast as my daughter. I smirked.

Renesmee broke off from her circles without breaking her speed one bit and flew over to Rosalie. She screeched to a stop and I imagined puffs of dust around her like in the cartoons. She pressed her palm to Rosalie's cheek and cocked her head to the side with an expression of obvious impatience. Carlisle laughed, as did Esme, Alice and Jasper.

Emmett roared from his spot on the couch. Rosalie smiled and gave her to Jacob to hold.

"Of course, my little queen," she gushed as she breezed off to the kitchen. She was back in a flash with the little metal cup, filled to the brim with a warm, thick red liquid that made my mouth water and my throat scorch. My muscles tensed and the venom flowed in my mouth. I quickly stopped my breath. Using what little air I had, I turned to Edward and spoke speedily.

"I think I need to hunt."

He looked into my eyes and nodded. I could see in his eyes that he echoed my sentiment.

They were growing perceptibly darker by the second. He threw a quick glance at Carlisle, who nodded understandingly. "Of course," Carlisle said. "Do as you must. It is the top priority that Bella must not harm Renesmee."

I offered him a quick, grateful smile, and we turned and dashed out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. (Although I wouldn't mind owning Jasper *wink,wink*)**

**Chapter 2**

I tensed, low to the ground in a crouch as I stalked the unsuspecting bobcat. It lounged just above me in the branches of a tree, head lolling to the side and its breathing slow and even. The venom flowed in my mouth with even more intensity than before. My thigh muscles tensed even further as I prepared myself to launch. One step forward. . . and. . . there! I sprang into the air and wrapped my arms around the broad shoulders of the cat, using my weight to flip him off the branch he slept on. A startled shriek escaped his throat, but I was fast. The shriek cut off quickly with the familiar gurgle as I sank my teeth into his throat.

Edward walked up to me, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"You're a mess," he offered. I flashed him my best smile. "Only because you like me that way," I replied.

He laughed, studying me. "You got me there. Looks like the bobcat got in a swipe or two before you took him down, though."

I looked down at my shirt in confusion, which quickly turned to surprise when I realized that my shirt hung in tattered strips of pink across my granite chest. Odd, I hadn't felt a thing. "Shucks," I muttered. "And that was the first of Alice's clothes that I actually liked."

Edward threw his head back and laughed. "Only you, Bella, only you. Come on, what do you say we get back to Nessie and see what new antic she's up to now?"

I perked up immediately at that prospect. Grabbing Edward's hand, I took off sprinting in the direction of the house. The way took us past our little cottage, and I was about to fly past it, when Edward's sudden stop nearly jerked my arm out of its socket.

"Ouch!"

That had been him who cried out, not me. I merely felt the pressure and registered that it was extreme. Wait…I'd hurt him? Oh no! "Edward, are you okay? I'm so sorry, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…I'm really sorry…" I rambled on, not fully able to put my remorse into a coherent sentence.

"Shh, Bella, I'm fine, I'm fine," he assured me. "I should have told you we needed to make a stop. Though I wonder at the fact that you didn't think of it yourself." He studied me, swinging his arm and grimacing.

"No, Edward, you're not okay. Look at you… I hurt you. I'm so sorry." I couldn't stop with the apologies; I'd hurt my one and only, my Edward. I could see the pain on his face each time he moved his right arm.

"Bella. Seriously. You sound like Tyler in the hospital that day." His eyes crinkled up into a smile. My brain shifted through my various murky human memories at a blinding speed. Aha. Tyler Crowley. The vile boy who had tried to take me to prom…_after_ nearly taking my life that first day. It seemed as though he must have been just looking for ways to end my life. A skidding van on ice? _Check_. A slippery dance floor with me in heels and a treacherously long dress? _Check_. What else was on his list? Chinese water torture? It was my turn to grimace now.

Edward chuckled at the expression on my face. I smiled at him then, a thought having just occurred to me. I couldn't really begrudge Tyler for his actions that fateful day…if it wasn't for him and his blessed blue minivan, Edward would have never saved my life, and we wouldn't be here right now, with eternity stretched out before us like a road covered in glittering sunshine.

"What?" Edward asked, wondering about the change in my expression.

I snapped back to attention. "Oh, I was just thinking, if Tyler hadn't almost killed me that day, we wouldn't be here right now," I smiled wider, euphoric at the thought.

"Hmmm," Edward considered that. "I suppose I am grateful to the little wretch for that after all."

I laughed uncontrollably until another small portion of my newly enormous mind reminded me of the reason we were standing here in the small clearing between the trees.

"What was it you stopped for?" I asked.

Edward raised his eyebrows at me. "You don't know?" he asked in disbelief. "No," I said, slightly irritated that he expected me to be so omniscient. "I can't read minds, you know. Unlike _some_ people."

He gestured with one hand to my scantily clad upper body and grinned. "As much as I don't mind seeing you like this, there are a few others I could think of who would…or rather, I would mind if they did."

Oh. My shirt. Right. Darn it. That was a really pretty shirt. I'd have to ask Alice if she could tell me where she got it so I could get another one. . .though I doubted she would, what with her unfounded aversion to wearing the same thing twice. But for now, that meant another trip into the dreaded closet. "Alrighty, then," I sighed. "Let's get this over with."

Five and a half seconds later, we were flying through the trees again, on our way to the white house. I had found a red blouse that was almost identical to the one I'd had when I was human, that Riley stole when he raided my room. I made a mental note to take care of this one.

We dashed up the front steps and into the wide, bright living room. Renesmee sat on the ground…and my mouth dropped open in shock. She was playing Jacob in chess, and had him in a check already. I watched in disbelief as she moved her rook one square over.

"Checkmate," she announced. Jacob had deep lines etched in his forehead from the concentration, and her voice surprised him. I saw for a moment that he was frustrated with losing, but when he glanced up and saw her face all the displeasure washed away, leaving only admiration in its place. I shifted my gaze to Renesmee. She looked smug.

"My turn," Jasper announced. He took Jacob's place as he moved over. There was a flash of hands, and the board was rearranged to the starting point. I stared at Jasper with a staggered look. He hadn't moved. Since when did Renesmee not only know how to set up a chess board, but play someone and beat them?

"It only took her three minutes to beat Jacob," Carlisle said, as though he could read my thoughts. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I closed it again. Carlisle laughed.

"She is quite a character. It's amazing how fast her brain is developing; she must be creating thousands of new neurons every millisecond. Already, she can decipher the meanings of large words based on the context in which they are used. I have been testing her, to see how she responds to various stimuli, and the results are beyond amazing. She fascinates me." I frowned, not really liking the idea of Carlisle treating her like some sort of guinea pig for an experiment. He misread my expression. "Of course, it is new to all of us. You don't have to worry, she seems perfectly healthy for a sixmonth-old. . .who is the size of a three year old." He smiled. I decided that he needed something to do while he wasn't working at the hospital, so I opted out of complaining about the experiments. Just as long as nothing hurt my baby. My little nudger. She wasn't so little anymore.

Just then, I heard Jasper's teeth snap together. I looked up in alarm, but all that had happened was that he was in a… "Checkmate," Renesmee announced again. Everyone laughed, and Renesmee clapped delightedly. She was clearly amused, and loved all the attention she was getting. It looked like she was turning into an Alice already. I shook my head with a smile.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

**A/N: I hope you guys are liking how the story is going so far, and I'd really appreciate reviews. Just thought I'd throw in a bit of information here. . . . . I actually have quite a few chapters of the story already written, but I'm putting them up little by little so you'll have something to look forward to while I stave off this writers block and put some more down on paper. . .So, pleaaaase review, oh please please please!!!! The other site that I had posted it on, hardly anyone reviewed it, and so I didn't really know whether or not anyone was even reading it. **

**Well, that's all for now, and if you like, I can post a new chapter every day or two, so let me know, alright? **

**Thanks a million for reading my story!!!**

**~Cahryn K.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: So what if I don't own Twilight? A girl can dream, can't she? All current characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.**

Chapter 3

Six months later. . .

"Alice, don't you think you're going a bit overboard?" I asked, flipping through the pages of her sketchbook.

"Bella, don't you know me by now? Please, please please," Alice begged. I sighed. In the book I held there were sketches of pink, white and gold balloons lining the grand staircase all the way up to the third floor. On the next page, the oval table that was normally used for family conferences overflowed with pink carnations in six bowls, sitting in a line along the midline of the table. Giant alternating pink and white satin bows were tied to the backs of each chair surrounding the table. White napkins with gold trim were nestled inside wine glasses at each place on the table, and at the very center was a large, round shape resembling a birthday cake. I frowned. "Alice, we don't eat."

"But Nessie does," she replied without hesitation. "And so does Jacob. I'm only mentioning this to you now to appease you, but I'm not allowing myself to think of inviting the werewolves until after my planning is finished. I can't have them blinding me all the time. It gives me such a migraine."

I thought about that for a moment. "What about Charlie?"

Alice pondered that. "Charlie," she muttered. "Sue. . .Rebecca. . ." Her eyes suddenly shifted out of focus. "GO!" she shoved me out of the room, snatching her sketchbook back from my hands. "I need to think, plan, revise. . . go, go, go!" With a final shove I was expelled from the room and the door was shut behind me. I groaned. Yet another party was in the making.

Renesmee's first birthday was in a week. Truth be told, though, she looked more like she was approaching seven years old. I never grew tired of watching her; every time I turned around she could do something new. For crying out loud, Emmett had snuck off with her in his monster Jeep while Edward and I were out hunting the other week, and the girl _drove_ the thing! Needless to say, I snapped as soon as they got home. As soon as I was sure she was alright, I passed her off to Edward and charged Emmett like a bear, taking down six trees along with him before we hit the ground. Taught him a lesson good. He ought not to try that again—not if he wanted to keep his arms attached to his body.

"Mommy?" My daughter's beautiful voice brought me back to the present. I looked down at her.

"Yes, dear?"

"Jakey wants to go hunting, can we go now? Please?" she asked. I gazed down into her chocolate eyes framed by blazing locks of bronze hair. The skin over her cheekbones was flushed, and the color matched the slightly red pout of her lips as she jutted out her chin.

"Please?" she asked again. How could I say no to that face? I reached out and cupped my hand around her cheek. It burned my hand, but not in an unpleasant way. The warmth sent tingles and shivers up my arm into my spine. A small smile formed on my lips. "Of course, darling. Be careful," I warned.

Her eyes lit up and she bounded away from me, her pigtails flopping wildly on either side of her head. I marveled at the fact that they now reached nearly to her knees. "Thank you," she squealed as she disappeared out the front door. I smiled to myself briefly.

All too soon, I remembered why I was standing outside Alice's bedroom door. My previous frustration returned, and I stalked off to find Edward to complain.

I discovered him outside in the garage, helping Rosalie tune her M3. She lay sprawled underneath the car, somehow still managing to look as though she was posing for a Gucci ad. Edward handed her the tools as she asked for them, though she didn't do so aloud.

"Ed-ward," I said in my best whiney voice. He looked up in surprise. "What's the matter?" he asked, concern wrinkling his forehead.

"Alice is planning another party," I continued my whining. He paused for a moment and cocked his head. Then he chuckled. "Ah, I see. Nessie's birthday. Have you thought of what to give her as a gift?"

"No," I said unwillingly. In truth, I was rather ashamed. My daughter's first birthday was approaching, and I hadn't thought to get her a present. What kind of mother was I?

Edward saw through my façade. "You hadn't thought of that, had you," he smiled. "Of course, that could all be taken care of quite easily. We could give her a joint gift, and I know just the thing."

I raised my eyebrow expectantly.

"Well," Edward pursed his lips, evidently deciding on the best way to broach the subject with me. This made me uneasy.

"What is it, Edward? Spit it out," I told him.

"Well," he began again. "She did manage to drive Emmett's jeep the other week and come out entirely unscathed. . ."

"WHAT?" I burst out. I couldn't help myself. Edward looked as though he had expected as much, but he still seemed taken aback by the force of my outburst. I didn't care. I continued. "Are you insane? My baby, driving a four-by-four? Or what? Did you have something else in mind—something a bit more feminine, maybe? Maybe a Porsche, like Alice has. Or a Ferrari? Anything with a speed limit of over one hundred twenty miles per hour, right? Anything that puts my baby so close to the road that even being a half-vampire wouldn't save her if she crashed. What are you _thinking_?" My tirade had left me breathless, as I hadn't inhaled once since I started shouting. I turned and stalked away.

"Wait, Bella," I heard him call after me, but I ignored him. I needed some peace and quiet to relax my mind, clear my eyes of the red haze I was seeing now. I heard him get up to follow me and I burst into a sprint. I had a head start.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Edward found me in the baseball clearing, sitting in the middle of it with my knees up to my chin and my arms wrapped around my legs, watching myself sparkle in the sunlight. I heard him approach slowly, hesitantly. I didn't turn around to face him.

"Bella?"

His voice was so pained my heart broke. How had I caused this? Was my outburst really necessary? I mulled it over for a brief second and the red haze filled my vision again as I pictured my daughter flying down a highway at speeds of nearly two hundred miles an hour. I had to blink back the anger that welled up in me and threatened to overflow.

Edward had stopped walking. He now stood a few feet away from me, and I could feel his gaze penetrating every bone in my body. As much as I didn't want to, I could also feel the pain accompanying that gaze. Remorse flooded through me, and I turned and stared up at him. His face was expressionless. No. I hated when he did that. Put on a blank face so I couldn't see how much I'd hurt him. That hurt worse than if he had broken into a million pieces before my very eyes. I continued to stare up at him, and he just stared down at me, his gaze never faltering or changing in any way. It was beginning to drive me mad.

Suddenly his poker face collapsed. "Bella," he pleaded. "I'm sorry. I should have never suggested that. It was absurd of me to even entertain the thought. If I'd realized you would react so strongly I would never have said anything." His golden eyes burned with the sincerity that painted every word.

What? What was this? _He_ was apologizing to _me_? Would the absurdities never end? I was the one who had lost my temper back there in the garage and stormed off like a spoiled brat. How did he get the notion in his head that _he_ should apologize to _me_? This was insane. He must be insane.

"Bella. . .Bella," Edward said, his voice strained. "Would you _please_ answer me? _Before_ I go mad?"

Right. He couldn't hear my thoughts. He had no way of knowing how I felt at the moment. I focused, my vision suddenly going blurry with the intensity of my concentration. I felt the elasticity surrounding my mind shiver, then lift. I would have liked to watch Edward's face as he finally heard my thoughts, but if I looked at him I was sure to lose my hold on the shield. Already, I could feel the rubber elasticity struggling to snap back into its place.

I brought my mixed feelings to the forefront of my mind, where he would be sure to hear them. The reason I was so worried about Renesmee, why I had gone off on him like that, my trepidation about the upcoming birthday party, my extreme remorse regarding my overreaction, and of course, my usual aversion to fast cars. Not that I didn't love the Ferrari he'd given me as my "after-car", but I loved it for a different reason. It got me where I needed to go faster than running. My love for it was founded upon purely practical reasons.

Edward's face relaxed as he heard my thoughts and he collapsed with his arms around me. I buried my face in his stone shoulder. If I could have cried, I would have. As it was, I settled for breathing in his scent more deeply than usual.

Uh oh. I'd forgotten what his scent did to my self control. Or should I say my lack of it?

Desire tore through my body, leaving traces of burning on every inch of me; each nerve ending tingled with the electricity that now charged the air between and around us. Well, I could fix that. I slid myself closer and closer to him until there was no more air left between us. I wrapped my legs around his torso as we sat on the ground, and hung my arms around his neck while I gazed into his eyes. He registered the change in my emotions immediately, and after an initial moment of surprise, I could see the hunger develop in his eyes. They roved over my body, sparkling with excitement. "Oh, Bella," he whispered, and his voice was suddenly rough and deep.

"Shh," I told him. And to make sure he obeyed, I pressed my lips to his and intertwined my fingers in his hair.

I pulled him closer to me, hungry for more of him. His hands roamed all over my body, caressing me softly even as his fingers nimbly undid the buttons of my blouse. I shrugged out of it, then helped relieve him of his shirt. He leaned forward slowly, so that I was being lowered onto my back on the ground. The feel of the grass on my bare back was ecstasy, second only to the feel of Edward pressed on top of me as we kissed. I sensed a change in the atmosphere, and opened my eyes briefly to glance at the sky. Dark purple storm clouds were rolling in from the east, chasing away the sun and standing in eerie contrast to the branches of the trees on the edge of the clearing. The distant roll of thunder vibrated through the dirt beneath us and we both shivered involuntarily in delight.

He broke his lips away from mine to brush them against my throat. I leaned my head back and arched my neck until the crown of my head was touching the ground. My breath came in ragged gasps. His tongue traced circles down the side of my neck and onto the scoop above my collarbone. I trembled. He continued down, kissing as he went, and paused to lick a sensual circle around my belly button. It felt like a trail of fire was blazing down my torso. I loved it.

He moved further down, letting his tongue and lips hover and do strange things just below my navel, when suddenly I heard a rip, the sound of metal being torn off fabric. I gasped and looked down. Well sheesh. He had torn the button clean off my jeans with his teeth. He paused and looked up at me, golden eyes smoldering with desire. I suddenly felt weak. He continued, skillfully maneuvering the zipper down and then edging the waist down around my hips. I hurried to do the same for him. . .except I used my fingers. I wasn't that skilled yet. A small part of my mind tucked that bit of info away for another day, though. I'd definitely have to try the teeth thing.

Now that every part of our bodies was connected in one way or another, some more intimately than the rest, the charge in the air increased one hundred and tenfold. The clouds had immersed us in their cover; although the trees still had an eerie glow from the sun, it was nowhere to be seen. The thunder rumbled closer now, and a jagged streak of lightning flashed across the sky directly above Edward's head. Edward moaned quietly as our bodies moved together. I could feel the electricity building inside me too now, and it seemed that the storm was in perfect harmony with our emotions and desires. My breath started coming in ragged gasps again, in response to his breath coming much more quickly on the side of my face. I heard a low rumble of thunder building from the east and coming west with an amazing force. The sound grew louder and louder and I felt it shaking the earth beneath me as it approached. Suddenly, a blast of lightning flashed overhead, momentarily blinding me, and the heavens opened up with all the force of Hercules as a torrent of rain cascaded down around us.

**A/N: You know, I just recently figured out that A/N stands for Author's Note. . . and as a result I feel really dumb. But its okay, because now I'm an informed citizen making full use of the A/N. Lol. **

**Okay, so that joke was beyond pathetic. But please review, guys, and tell me what you think. And if you feel like making fun of my sucky attempts at jokes, go right ahead. **

**What do you guys think of the love scene between Edward and Bella? Out in a rainstorm. *sighs happily* That's always been a fantasy of mine...I've yet to live it out. If anyone has any ideas for future love scenes, please let me know, and I just may include them. **

**Well, review, people! REVIEW!!!!!!!!!! **

**Love, Cahryn.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Me no own Twilight. Me does be vewy sad because of this. But me does be happy because me can read it and write 'bout it. Dat is why me loves Stepehenie Meyer.**

Chapter 4

We lay in the wet grass, side by side. Neither of us spoke. We didn't feel the need to. For a long while, Edward stared up at the sky while I lay with my head on his shoulder, watching his perfect face. The thunderstorm had passed just as quickly as it came, and the sun was beginning to peek out again between the thinning clouds. Rainbow colors danced around on the grass, reflected by the raindrops lingering on the blades. A distinct shade of green managed to permeate every rainbow. Of course. Leave it to Forks to even have green rainbows. I was surprised the people themselves weren't green yet. But nonetheless,

I loved it here. It was here I had met my first love, the love that was, miraculously, somehow going to be mine throughout all eternity. I soaked that fact through every fiber of my being. It left a warm, soft, fluffy feeling behind everywhere it went, finally stopping in my heart where it swelled it until I thought for sure I would burst.

The last of the clouds drifted away, giving the sun leave to shine down in all its brilliant force. A haze still lingered in the air and Edward's sparkles shone off him in rays, like the ones you might see filtered through the trees in a rainforest. He turned his head and looked at me. "What are you thinking?" he asked seriously.

"Hmm?" I murmured. He'd pulled me back from another train of thought I was about to go off on. "Well, just now I was thinking—as usual—how perfect you are."

He looked at me and smiled. "Are you still entertaining your misguided perceptions of me?"

I bit my lip, trying to remember a dark, faraway human conversation that this reminded me of. I smiled when it came back to me. "You don't see yourself very clearly, you know," I told him. "I distinctly remember someone telling me that a few years ago when I _was_ misguided. I'm not misguided now."

His eyes took on a tender, soft look and I melted into their honey depths. He stared into my eyes, and cupped his hand around my cheek. "Your eyes are beautiful now," he offered suddenly.

I looked at him in confusion. "I thought you liked them better brown?"

He smiled his familiar crooked smile. "Bella. When was the last time you looked in a mirror?" he asked.

"Umm. . .September thirteenth, last year," I replied. "Why? What's wrong with me?"

He laughed, the bells echoing off the trees and bouncing back to us from a hundred directions. "You silly, oversensitive, beautiful girl. Why would you assume anything is wrong with you? As if I could ever be the one to point it out if there was," he added. "It's just that your eyes are the same exact color as the sun now."

I gasped as realization flooded through me. My eyes? I had all but forgotten about them, but now, all the memories came rushing back like a river. My eyes, blood red in the gilded mirror Alice had held in front of me. The third pair of contacts dissolving when Charlie came to visit that first time. Jacob's response when he saw me that afternoon that

I awoke from my change. _"I gotta say, Bells. You're a freak show." _Could they really be gold now? Finally?

I jumped up from my spot next to Edward and dashed off into the trees. I heard him start to call after me, worry in his voice, but I didn't let it bother me. I knew he would follow me, and I wasn't mad at him, after all. My run led me through the forest, through the clearing where the cottage stood, and past the white house, to the river. I didn't stop when

I got there, though. I followed its meandering curves until they wound north and I was far enough away from the house to be seen by even Alice's eyes. She had the best eyesight of everyone in the household—perhaps it had something to do with her visions? Who knew.

All of that was irrelevant now. The only reason I had gone so far upstream before stopping was because I knew it would probably piss Edward off if he had to see my naked body in the mind of one of his siblings later on this evening. I didn't want him to have to do anything rash.

I came to an abrupt halt, and knelt down in the twigs and dirt that lined the bank of the river. The dark water rushed by below me, the sunlight glinting off it in myriad patterns of multicolored light. But that was not what I focused on now. I gazed intently down into the water and adjusted my eyes to see my reflection wavering on the surface of it.

It was true.

My eyes were gold.

I watched my hand slowly move up to my cheek of its own accord. My expression, I saw, was filled with wonder.

Another face, expression matching mine, suddenly appeared beside me in the river. I didn't respond; my eyes were riveted to their counterparts in the stream flowing beneath me. Edward wrapped his arms around me and smiled. "Bella," he murmured.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Remember when I asked you your favorite color for the day, and you told me brown?

You said that brown was warm. . ." his voice trailed off so that even I had to strain to hear it.

I nodded.

"Well," he said, speaking louder now, stronger, but his voice was still as soft as an angel's. "_Gold_ is warm."

**A/N: Sorry this chapter was so short, but it was kind of necessary. I'm rearranging the chapters from how they were posted on the other site, because I wrote them in sections; like Chapter 3, Part 1, Chapter 3, Part 2, and so on. But it's rather confusing, actually, so I'm fixing it up for you guys, and this one had to be a chapter by itself. **

**Interesting tidbit...Chapter 4 was originally Chapter 3 Part 1. Haha. Anyhow, I hope you guys like it, and please review. I need reviews like I need air to breathe. No. I need reviews like I need Jasper to wake up to in the morning. Yes. That much. **

**Love you guys, Cahryn**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Edward is not mine. He belongs to Bella. Bella is not mine. She belongs to Stephenie Meyer. But I can imagine that Jacob is mine. . .**

**Just a note here, I did a bit of math and figured out that Renesmee's birthday must be on September 10th****, because Bella's is September 13****th****, and in BD when Alice wished her a happy 19****th**** birthday, she objected, saying she'd stopped aging three days before. . .and Renesmee was born when Bella stopped aging. Just wanted to clear that up in case people might think I made up the date for her birthday. :-D**

Chapter 5

September 9th.

It was the day before the party. Alice had been distracted all week, pulling together last minute arrangements and flitting here and there putting finishing touches on everything.

The house was spotless, and everything was already in place, arranged as perfectly as though the decorations had been lifted out of her sketchbook and placed directly into the living room. Renesmee was temporarily banned from the house so she wouldn't see all the fanfare, but she knew what was going on. Alice just wanted to surprise her with how nice it would be. Nice. That, and the word "party" didn't belong in the same sentence in my mind. But this was for Nessie, and I would do anything to make my baby girl happy.

I was sitting with Renesmee and Jacob in front of the cottage, running a brush through her long curls that were, much to my dismay, tangled and full of twigs. She had just returned from hunting with him again, and of course he couldn't be expected to tell her to tie her hair up first. Her hair did reach the back of her knees now, and while I loved every inch—no—every centimeter of it, it did allow for about three times as many broken branches and seeds to entwine themselves in her bronze locks.

I glared over at Jacob after having finally pulled out a particularly stubborn briar.

"What?" he asked, looking at me in surprise.

"Couldn't you have thought to braid her hair before you took her out? You do it yourself often enough when your hair is long. I'll never get all this out," I grumbled.

"Look who's all concerned about appearances now," Jacob countered. I flashed him a look of exasperation before turning back to Nessie's head. "Don't get all smart on me, Jake," I threatened. "I can still take you down."

"Sure, sure," he agreed, though his eyes twinkled with mirth. I stuck my tongue out at him at the same time as Renesmee did. He burst out laughing.

"You two are so alike it's scary," he said, once he'd regained his breath and his upright posture.

"Of course. She's my baby girl," I bragged.

"No I'm not," Renesmee objected. "Stop saying that, Mommy. You make me sound so little and incompetent."

I nearly dropped the brush. "Incompetent? Where'd you learn that word?"

"Yeah, where?" Jacob echoed. He was staring at her with the same surprised look on his face as I wore on mine.

"Auntie Rose said it yesterday," she answered. "She was saying something about Emmett and how he didn't fix her carburetor right."

"Carburetor?" Jacob echoed again, his tone colored in disbelief. Then, slowly, a huge grin spread across his face. "What else did you hear about cars?" he asked.

"Oh, no, Jake," I rolled my eyes. I could see where this was going. I wasn't going to be able to keep my baby out of a car for long… well, as long as they didn't start on the motorcycles just yet, I supposed I could survive. Jacob ignored my comment, so I went back to picking the twigs out of her hair. I distinctly reminded myself of a monkey.

"Well, Auntie Rose was saying that as soon as I got a little older she would buy me one and tune it up for me."

"Got any particular ones in mind?" Jacob pressed.

"There _is_ one," Nessie mused. "The Maserati GranTurismo S. . .it's gorgeous."

Jacob's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He elbowed me. "Baby girl's got some sense o'style, huh?"

I looked at him. "You can't be serious, Jake. You know I haven't got the faintest idea what that thing looks like. I bet I couldn't even pronounce the name if I saw it on paper."

Nessie shifted round from her position sitting crosslegged on the ground in front of me and pressed her hand to my cheek. Images of a sleek black Italian sports car filled my mind. The curves that flowed over the body of the car were smooth, and the entire car had a fluid look to it. The view in my head shifted, and I was looking at the inside of the car. I had to admit, even I was impressed with this image. Sleek, red leather seats were in perfect coordination with the red and black dashboard, which contained a full complement of gadgets: a cd player, radio, and even that little GPS trinket.

Jacob's voice interrupted my mental ogling. "Do you know how fast that thing goes?"

Nessie nodded and turned back to him. "One hundred and eighty three miles per hour," she said proudly. Jacob nodded with evident satisfaction.

My eyes nearly fell out from shock and my mouth dropped open with an audible click.

Jacob glanced up at me and burst into another round of heehaws. Nessie collapsed into a fit of giggles, pressing one of her hands against each of our cheeks. She sent both Jacob and me and image of her speeding down the highway at dusk, with me chasing after her waving my arms madly and shouting. Jacob laughed even harder. I glared at him.

"Nessie, you know I only want to keep you safe," I said, looking at her with what I hoped was a stern expression. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself in a situation like that, Mommy. Even Daddy agrees with me on that."

"_That's_ saying something," Jacob hooted. Faster than a cobra strike, my hand flashed out and knocked him on the back of his head. He went flying over the fence and crashed into a tree with a satisfying thud. "Stinky dog," I muttered.

Nessie fell to the ground in stitches, holding her sides and gasping for air between giggles. I looked down at her and wasn't able to hold myself back any longer. I burst out laughing too. Jacob was on his feet and back at her side in two seconds. "You don't exactly smell like a bunch of roses, yourself," he retorted. "Actually, wait. That's exactly the problem. You smell too much like a bunch of roses, it's so sweet it's gross." I stuck my tongue out at him again.

He flashed me his best Jacob-ey smile that I loved, and launched immediately into a complicated discussion with Nessie about the finer mechanics of this Maserati Grand Torino…wait, what did she call it? GranTurismo. Of course my super smart vampire brain would be flawed in remembering details about cars. I figured that must be another gift I'd brought with me into this life: complete mechanical incompetence. I gave up on freeing her hair from all the brambles and settled for letting their voices become a background drone to my thoughts as I stared out through the trees. Hands on my chin, elbows on my knees, I sighed in relief and happiness that everything had worked out perfectly after all. Edward was in my life where he belonged, by my side for all eternity, we had a miniature version of ourselves who was our pride and joy, and Jacob finally found his place in my life, where we could be together without the awkwardness of inconvenient love. I turned my head towards where the sun hid behind the clouds and closed my eyes, letting its rays warm my cheeks.

* * * * * * * *

All our heads turned toward the direction of the sound. A sudden warning instinct told me to defend myself, but I recognized the lavender scent wafting in on the breeze a split second before its owner made himself visible in the clearing.

"Edward!" I sprang up and into his arms. He caught me with a smile. Pressing his lips to my forehead, he chuckled and inhaled deeply before shifting me around to tuck me into his side.

"How are my two favorite girls in the world doing?" he asked with a grin.

"Daddy!" Renesmee followed suit and sprang too, and latching herself onto his shoulders, her perfect, razor sharp teeth stopped just centimeters away from his jugular. She let out a low growl. "Gotcha."

He laughed and reached up with his other hand to detach her from his neck. "That's my girl," he beamed. But before he could grab her, so quickly that I almost missed it, Renesmee catapulted herself off his shoulders and turned a somersault in the air before landing on the ground in a hunting crouch. Her mouth turned up at the corners in the smile that was unmistakably hers, and a fierce glint entered her eyes. A tiny snarl escaped her full, pink lips.

Edward stiffened in shock momentarily. Her movements had been so swift and agile that they impressed even him, the master of speed. He turned his head to me and murmured in my ear.

"I've never seen anything like it in my eighty-odd years of existence. Not even in Carlisle's memories of the Immortal Children." His voice was thick with pride and awe. I remained speechless. "Darling," he spoke to Renesmee now. "I don't think I could take you up on that offer. I may have agreed to a few other things, but challenging you in battle isn't something I think I could handle."

Renesmee straightened up with a pout. "Aw, _Daddy_, you're no _fun_." Jacob chuckled at her. She whirled on him. "What's that? You're laughing? Let's see who laughs last, why don't we?" She slunk towards him slowly, stealth emanating from every part of her body.

Jacob grinned. "Oh you're on, Ness." He lunged at her with blinding speed.

And crashed into a tree a few yards away. Nessie's tinkling laughter came from behind me now.

"Silly Jakey," she crowed. "You missed me!"

He turned around in disbelief to face her. She was dancing in circles with her arms thrown above her head and a bright smile on her face. Stopping suddenly, she let herself fall to the ground. The surface of the water in the birdbath trembled slightly when she landed. Edward and I laughed together at her as she lay splayed out on the ground, her cream floral printed sundress spread out around her ankles and her hair fanned out around her face. Her cheekbones were flushed a hectic pink. I heard her heartbeat racing away.

She closed her eyes and rolled over onto her belly, kicking her feet up into the air behind her back and crossing her ankles. She looked up at me.

"Mommy, can you bring me _Emma_, please? The one by Jane Austen?" I smiled at her. She had inherited her love of the classics from me, and Jane Austen was her favorite of the authors. Oddly enough, she didn't favor my preferred choice, _Wuthering Heights_. She claimed she didn't like the way it reminded her of how her daddy went to Italy to die. I had told her that story, much to Edward's dismay, but I felt that she should know every bit of our magical history, how we had come to be together.

"Sure, sweetie," I said. I flashed inside the house and plucked the overused volume off the mahogany bookshelf in her bedroom, where it stood next to her other favorites, not the least of which was _Redemption Ark_, by Alastair Reynolds. She was a diehard science fiction fan, something she'd picked up from spending so much time in Alice's room. One needed something to do to fill the time once Alice got started playing the role of personal stylist. I shuddered as I remembered the few occasions I had been subject to her fashion whims.

I was back outside in a flash, and I handed the book to her. Warning Jacob to keep an eye on her, I then turned to Edward and sighed. "What do you say we go help Alice before she loses her mind?"

Edward laughed. "Since when are you so resigned to your fate?"

I frowned. "Only since I realized that unless I do something to help, I might not have an excuse to use to bargain my way out of letting her dress me for the party tomorrow." I grimaced at the thoughts of what she might try to force me into.

His eyes twinkled as he took in my martyred expression. "Sounds like a plan to me," he said.

We turned and fled into the forest.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: If I can't own Twilight, then neither can you. Unless you're SM, which I bet you're not. So hah. =]**

Chapter 6

We arrived at the house a few moments later. I could hear Alice barking out directions in her high, soprano voice.

"Esme, tie these ribbons to the chairs over there. They have to be big and full! Rosalie, I need you to go to the florist and get those carnations I ordered, ASAP. Emmett, _move_! Every time I fluff the pillows you go and mash them down again, I swear if you do it one more time. . ." I looked at Edward and raised one eyebrow. He chuckled. "She's losing it.

She just invited the werewolves, and of course her whole party just disappeared."

I laughed. That explained her frantic actions and words.

"I wonder why Jasper hasn't intervened, though," he mused as we approached the door.

"Ah, that's it. He's in town picking up Renesmee's dress from the tailor."

"And who told you that?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Alice," he replied with a chuckle. "She's desperately wishing he were here right now to calm her down."

I gave him a pained smile as we crossed the threshold. He kissed my forehead. "Don't worry Bella. The worst she can do is—"

"Bella!" Alice interrupted, throwing herself between us. "Thank heaven you're here. I need you to go try on your dress and see if it fits. Hurry! There's no time to waste. . .and I can't see a blasted thing in the future—I swear if I don't find a way to see around these freaks I'm going to go insane and end up back in an asylum again!"

"Alice—," I tried to interrupt.

"Hush, Bella, just do as I say. There'll be plenty of time to ask questions when everything is done. Now just go on upstairs and. . .Oh, Bella, please. Edward will still be here when you get back—if you _don't go,_ I'll make sure he's _not_ here when you get back," she threatened darkly.

She had seen the helpless glance I threw his way as she shoved me towards the staircase. I tried once more. "Alice. . .," but she clasped her small hand over my mouth and gave me a final push towards the stairs. Indignation welled up in me and I spun around to give Edward a withering glare. Why wasn't he helping me? What I saw only infuriated me further. He was shaking with laughter. I whirled and stomped up the staircase with more force than was really necessary.

When I got to Alice's room and threw open the door, I froze in my tracks. Over the bed in the corner stretched a simple silk cocktail dress, colored a soft royal blue. The sleeves were short and puffed, and the V-neckline plunged low, but not too low. Sheer chiffon ruffled over the chest and hung down to the sides below a modest sized satin bow. I had to remember to breathe. . .well, actually, I thought wryly, I didn't. But the feeling was the same. The dress took my breath away. There were no words to describe the understated beauty of it. I breathed a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was up above that had softened Alice's heart to my pain.

I picked it up gingerly and held it against myself in the mirror. The color set off my skin perfectly. I didn't have to try it on to know it would fit, but I did just the same. The dress fit me like a glove. It hugged just the right places and curved away where it needed to in order to leave something to the imagination. I was in love.

A knock on the door made me jump. I had been so busy admiring the dress that I hadn't heard Alice come up the steps. "Come in," I said softly.

Alice walked into the room quietly. "Do you like it?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I love it," I whispered.

She beamed.

"I thought you would. I modeled it after the blue shirt you have that Edward loves so much." Her words flowed quickly with her excitement. "Don't say anything to him, he hasn't seen it yet. I've been extra careful not to think about it when I'm around him.

Okay? _So don't spoil this for me,_" she warned. I merely nodded, unable to tear my eyes away from the beautiful woman who stood in the mirror before me. I still had a hard time believing she was really me.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Emmett, Edward, and Carlisle went out to hunt, while Jasper chose to stay with Alice. They were sitting in their usual spot at the base of the staircase, but for a change, Alice had her head in Jasper's lap instead of the other way around. She kept her eyes shut tight as he massaged her temples. I was sitting on the white sofa next to Rosalie as she channel surfed her usual one hundred and twenty channels per second. We weren't exactly sitting in companionable silence; rather, we were each lost deep in our own thoughts. Esme was in the kitchen preparing dinner for

Jacob, Renesmee, and Seth, who had dropped by just before the sun went down. I was watching them sit outside on the porch playing Crazy Eights. Renesmee still wasn't allowed inside the house.

"Uno!" Seth shouted. Rosalie flicked a withering glare in his direction for a fraction of a second before looking back at the television screen. The speed of the changing channels never faltered.

Renesmee giggled. "You can't say uno, Seth. That's not what we're playing." She reached over and shoved his arm.

"So what am I supposed to say then?" he asked.

"How about nothing," Jacob said, mock punching Seth's arm. "That way I can lay down my three deuces, here, and you can kindly pick up six more cards. Hah."

"Aw, Jake, that's not fair. I didn't know what to say," Seth protested.

"Too bad, bro. No second chances in Jake's world."

Renesmee looked at Jake suddenly, and I recognized a determined light in her eye.

Edward told me that I got that look sometimes when I "resented some injustice." I listened, eager to hear what she would say. As much as I hated to admit it out loud, I was proud of her whenever she got angry with Jacob or did something to outsmart him. It eased some of my lingering annoyance at the thought of him some day becoming my son-in-law.

Jake eyed her warily. He knew all too well by now the calm before the storm—a trait she'd inherited from her father. She was very good at controlling her emotions when necessary, but this only made her words all the more menacing when they were coupled with an angelic smile. It was this smile that graced her countenance now.

"Jake?" Nessie asked.

"What's up?" Jacob replied uneasily. He shifted his weight from one side to the other, leaning into a more casual stance. It was an attempt to seem indifferent, but I knew better.

So did Nessie. She looked at Seth, and then back to Jacob.

"I think you should let Seth go on this one." The deadly calm with which she said it left nothing to be desired in the realm of fright or heart palpitations of the listener—well, those whose hearts _could_ palpitate anyway. I heard Jake's heart stutter and miss a beat when she batted her eyelashes at him.

Jasper looked up suddenly, a strangely amused smile playing on his lips. Alice started up.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly, but relaxed when she saw the smile on his face. "I'll tell you later, darlin'," he replied, a bit of his southern twang coming through in his voice.

"Relax now. You need to rest. You've been working like a dog all day." Alice sighed and laid her head back down in his lap. After a moment she peeked up at him.

"You _will_ tell me later," she commanded. Jasper just nodded and stroked her hair.

"Who are you calling a dog?" Jacob called from the porch, glad to have a distraction from Renesmee's charmingly fearsome glare.

"If the collar fits, wear it," Jasper replied smoothly. Everyone in the house besides Esme and Jacob burst out laughing.

"Dumb emo bloodsucker," Jacob muttered under his breath. Esme came silently out from the kitchen, a colander in her hand filled with macaroni.

"Now, now," she chided. "That's not how we treat our guests. You all know better." She cast a disapproving look at me, especially. I raised my eyebrows. What was that for? I hadn't said anything. "Bella, you should stop them when they start up like that. It isn't kind. I would have expected you to be the one to say something."

I hadn't pegged Esme as the type to reprove anyone; she looked so gentle and fragile. I was taken off guard, and all I could manage in response was a nod. Her expression softened then and she gave me a kind smile before flitting back into the kitchen.

It was silent for a while after that. Even Jacob didn't have anything smart to say. No, I took that back as I looked out the window again. I could see it brimming over in his eyes, all the sarcastic remarks he wanted to throw at me now. But being around us so much in the past months had softened him. He wouldn't do anything that would upset Esme, who I suspected was his favorite of us all. It probably had something to do with all the food she cooked for him any time he was here, which was nearly every day. After all, the saying does go that the way to a man's heart is through his belly.

* * * * * * * * *

Esme served them macaroni salad and fried chicken with mashed potatoes and biscuits.

The smell turned my stomach, and I was grateful to Esme for putting herself through the no doubt gruesome task of preparing it. Jacob and Seth wolfed it all down in mere minutes—I chuckled to myself at my intended pun—while Nessie picked slowly at her plate. She didn't really favor human food; we had only discovered two or three foods that she really enjoyed, pizza being among them. I figured that one probably came from spending time with Charlie when Sue wasn't around to cook. Edward always teased me about the other human food she liked—eggs. On our honeymoon I had gone through nearly a six month supply of eggs in a matter of weeks before discovering I was pregnant. Esme never stopped trying to find others, though, but tonight I could see she'd resigned herself to another disappointment. I felt downright bad for her.

A short while later, when they had finished their food and Renesmee had reduced hers to an unidentifiable pile of mush, she leaned back into Jacob's side and closed her eyes. It was getting late. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap, laying his cheek on her head. In a few minutes her heartbeat slowed perceptibly, and her chest rose and fell slowly and evenly. Jacob stood carefully, cradling her in his arms. I rose to join him. Once I was outside, he made no move to give her to me, but turned and walked straight into the trees. I trailed closely behind.

We reached the cottage and Jacob strode right through the gate and pushed the front door open with his shoulder. He continued through the house to her bedroom where he laid her down in her bed with an expression so tender I would never have imagined it could be found on Jacob's face. She sighed and twitched slightly, and her lips parted.

"Jacob," she murmured. She was dreaming of him.

I warred within myself of whether to give them a moment of privacy or keep an eye on him. Jake wasn't known for his tactfulness or regard for other's personal space, and I worried about leaving him alone here with Nessie. After a moment's thought, though, I'd made my decision. I wasn't going anywhere unless he came right along with me, by force if necessary. I cleared my throat.

"Jake, she's sleeping now. Thank you." My tone was dismissive, giving him a not so subtle reminder that he had a home too. "Your dad probably needs you back at the rez." Jacob didn't look at me as he replied. "He'll be fine."

I frowned and contemplated mentally contacting Edward, but I didn't feel it was worth the effort it took to lift my shield away from my mind. Besides that, I rather liked seeing Jacob this way. Whenever he looked at Renesmee, his face took on the same expression as it did when he slept, and Sam's mask melted away to reveal the sixteen-year-old boy's face that was always hidden underneath. No matter that the innocence of that face didn't match his bulky, toned upper body. In fact, if I hadn't seen Edward without clothes, Jake would have been seriously distracting. I could only imagine what sorts of dreams the girls at the reservation must be having about him. His smooth russet skin flowed uninterrupted over his broad shoulders, and the muscles rippled underneath with each movement he made. He had an eight pack set underneath an incredibly toned chest, and his abs continued right down to meet his toned pelvic line that was just visible above his baggy gray sweats.

Thankfully, I heard the door open just then, and the sweet breeze that flowed into the room calmed me immediately. I had been about to start hyperventilating from the last thought that had crossed my mind, which was to worry about how much longer it would be before Renesmee would begin noticing these things about him. Edward drifted silently into the room and wrapped his arms around my waist. I could feel the tension in his grip. I turned my head to the side and glanced up at him curiously. He was staring at Jacob's back with a cold expression.

"Good night, Jacob," he said coolly.

Jake's jaw twitched before he turned around. "Good night, _Edward,_" he replied in a slightly less civil tone. He threw one last tender glance at Renesmee before stalking past us with a glare at Edward.

I looked up at my husband in surprise. "What was that all about?"

Edward frowned and his alabaster brow furrowed. "Nessie's growing up quickly," he said unwillingly. "Jacob's not beyond noticing that."

My vision blurred and a red haze began to lick at the edges. Edward felt the tension in my body and held me tighter. "Shh," he murmured. "If it was that serious he wouldn't have made it past me with both arms attached to his body. Trust me."

His threat satisfied my need for violence, and I relaxed into his marble chest as we walked back down the hall to our bedroom. He smiled and kissed my temple. "I love you," he whispered. "I love you too," I whispered back. He slid his nose along my jaw and kissed my neck.

"You know, Alice did a very nice job with decorating the house. You ought to cut her some slack." His breath brushed my ear and I shuddered.

"She even let you come back down to stay with me after you'd tried on your dress," he continued, nuzzling my ear as he spoke. I turned to look at him.

"What kind of a paradoxical distraction is that supposed to be?" I asked. "You know talking about Alice will make me mad, yet you're doing all this—" I gestured to us — "to drive me crazy. How is that supposed to work?"

He chuckled and pulled me closer so that every line of our bodies was pressed against each other. I could feel the curvature of each and every muscle against my chest and stomach. I was nearly undone, but I struggled to hold on to my sanity for a moment longer to see where he intended to go with this.

"Well, Bella," he began. "I've been with you when you were happy, I've been with you when you were sad, I've been with you when you were remorseful. All were very different experiences for me. But there is one emotion I haven't felt the effects of yet. . ." he trailed off suggestively, sliding his hand up the length of my thigh and bringing it to rest at the small of my back. "I have yet to see how you will. . ._perform, _per say, when you're _angry_."

His golden eyes burned into mine and a passionate fire flickered behind his irises. A small portion of my brain taunted me with the idea that I didn't know _how_ to be aggressive in such a situation, but I shoved it away before it could kill my buzz.

I took a deep breath— saturating my every fiber with his scent and effectively killing what little self control I had left— and slammed him against the wall on the far end of the room. He was certainly surprised, but he wanted to see how I would behave when I was mad? No problem. I imagined every time Alice had dressed me in something I didn't want to wear. I imagined every time Emmett had ribbed me unnecessarily for something foolish I'd done. I channeled the resulting fury into the passion with which I now held Edward against the wall, kissing him. He didn't hesitate to reciprocate. We held that way for a moment longer before he flipped me around with a stunning speed and I was the one suddenly pressed against the wall.

He kissed me urgently, holding the back of my head while his long fingers tangled in my hair and his other hand roamed up and down my body. I gasped in delight and pleasure as he grabbed me around the lower part of my back and pulled me to him. I had thought that I was feeling every line of his body before, but it turned out I had been sorely mistaken. _Now _I felt every line of his body, and coupled with his lips on mine, it was driving me insane. I shoved him back, still kissing him, until he fell backwards onto the bed.

Climbing on top of him, I tore his shirt open, oblivious to the buttons flying in every direction. I positioned myself to sit on his hips and caressed the flawless planes of his chest while kissing down his stomach. He groaned in pleasure, and the sound was somewhere between a growl and a snarl. It was the most sensual thing I had ever heard in my life. He gripped me around the waist and slid me all the way up to sit on his abdomen so that he could undo the buttons of my shirt with his teeth. _What was it with Edward and his teeth?_ Granted, I certainly wasn't going to complain.

We continued exploring each other's bodies with our hands and tongues until we couldn't take it anymore, and he finally took me. The rest of the night was spent tangled in the throes of passion and each other, and we didn't break loose until the sun was breaking over the edge of the horizon in the east.

**A/N: So, what do you think? By the way, does anyone read these author's notes (besides me)?**

**I have a poll for you guys.....it involves a bit of detective work. What do you think Jasper promised to tell Alice later? I'll let you know next chapter if you're right or not. . . . . . . . .**

**Love, Cahryn**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Twilight doesn't belong to me. But all I need now is a vampire to bite me...and I can belong to Twilight. =)**

**Hello, guys. I'm sorry I took so long to post another chapter, but I've had quite a few things going on in the real world, which sucks. I can't promise you that I'll post more often now, but I'm working on it. Ahhh. Life sucks when you're not immortal and gifted with super-speed to get chores done in no time. *grumbles***

**Chapter 7**

I opened my eyes when a strange buzzing sound that I couldn't quite place distracted me from my daydreaming. I had been studying the interesting patterns the sunlight made when it shone through my eyelids onto my retina. Myriad facets glistened and sparkled the way my skin did, but shimmered and shifted every now and then as though they were passing through water. I assumed that must be a result of the light passing through the venom that now flowed through my veins. Beside me on the bed, Edward groaned and rolled over, his hand coming down with a loud smack on the bedside table. It wasn't until I heard him answer the phone that I realized what the noise had been.

"Yes, Alice?" I could hear her shrill voice on the other end of the line, but tried not to listen. Chances were that I didn't really want to know what she was calling about— especially considering that today was the day of Renesmee's birthday party. It was scheduled for three o'clock in the afternoon, and judging from the tone of the voice on the other end, Alice didn't plan to waste one minute from now until then.

"Yes. . .yes, Alice. . .yes. . .alright. I'll see to it that she does. Thank you." Edward snapped the phone shut and tossed it behind him without looking as he flipped back over to face me.

"That was Alice," he informed me as he stroked my cheek, brushing the hair out of my face. I looked at him dubiously. He laughed. "Of course you knew that. I simply said it for the sake of conversation."

I stretched up to peck him on the lips. "Of course I knew. What I don't know, now, is what she wants." I pulled back and looked at him expectantly.

He sighed. "She wants us to come and get Renesmee's dress. And then I'm supposed to take you hunting."

"Hunting?" I asked incredulously. "Why?"

"To keep you out of the way until it's your turn to play Barbie," he grinned. I grimaced. I had to admit, though, that was a smart move on Alice's side. She knew I had been craving mountain lion, and I was well overdue to test my skills against a grizzly, courtesy of Emmett. He had a bet going with Jasper on who would take the bear down first; him, with his decades of experience, or me, with my newborn strength. Granted, it was beginning to wear down, but I could still beat Emmett in an arm wrestling match. He didn't like that very much.

"Will Emmett come?" I asked.

"Hmm? Sure, why not," Edward replied. "I doubt he'll turn you down once you tell him you've finally decided to take up his challenge. I don't know why you waited so long to decide—you could have beaten him by a much wider margin if you'd only accepted the challenge sooner." He looked down at me with vivid curiosity burning in his eyes.

I looked quickly away, ashamed as I thought of the reason for my delay. If I had still been able to blush my cheeks would have been bright scarlet. As it was, the mortified expression was still a dead giveaway. Edward caught my chin and brought my face back up to look at him. I tried to keep my eyes averted.

"You're not…scared?" he asked with incredulity. I tucked my chin quickly, feeling rather embarrassed that he saw through me so easily. What happened to the good old days when he had to ask me what I was thinking? He continued, his voice rising an octave in disbelief. "You sat in the company of _vampires_ every day while you were still a human, and now that you're virtually _indestructible_, you're _afraid_? Of a mere _bear?_" He threw his head back and laughed merrily. "Bella, you are utterly absurd and incomprehensible."

The last comment brought me back pretty quickly. I glared at him.

"Haven't we been through this before?" I asked, miffed. "I get it. You think I'm absurd. I think you're insane. And I'm _not_ _scared._" I finished. It did no good. Edward still rocked the bed with his laughter. I pushed my bottom lip out into a pout and crossed my arms, waiting for him to finish. He still chuckled a few more times, peeking at me in between chortles.

"Are you done yet?" I asked. I made sure my lip still poked out stubbornly. Edward stopped laughing abruptly and stared down at me. "Yes, I'm done laughing," he said, choosing his words carefully.

So quickly that I didn't have time to react, he brought his head down to mine and caught my lower lip between his teeth. His suddenly close proximity stopped my breath. Ever so slowly, he slid his tongue across it, back and forth, back and forth. It tickled and sent shivers down my spine. I shuddered delicately. He let go of my lip and then pressed his lips to mine quickly and softly before leaning back on his elbow to look at me. I focused on breathing steadily while he watched me with his crooked smile. "But I wasn't done with you," he finished. "Come on. Let's get dressed and get Nessie up before Alice has to resort to duress."

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Ed-_ward_!" I cried. "You'll be the death of me, I swear!" He grinned and shook his head. "Not likely. I _am_ the reason you're going to live forever. Don't forget that."

Well, there wasn't any arguing with that, and besides, he was busy running his fingers lightly over my collarbone and the back of my neck, and that pretty much chased all coherent thoughts out of my head. I couldn't remember what we were supposed to do. I couldn't remember what I'd said to make him reply the way he did. I nearly forgot my name. He chuckled to himself as he watched my blank, confused expression.

"What I wouldn't give to hear your thoughts right now," he murmured.

"You wouldn't hear a thing," I told him. "My mind goes blank whenever you do that. Besides, I don't think I could concentrate enough to let you in while you were busy _purposely_ dazzling me."

He smiled and put a finger to my lips. I froze and listened. Two doors away, a bedspring creaked and a heartbeat picked up its pace.

"Well, here goes nothing," I said, getting up and padding over to my closet.

It wasn't cold; but then again nothing was cold to me anymore—so I pulled on a pair of khaki shorts and a white cotton tank top with lace that made up most of the bust area.

Seriously, hadn't Alice put _one_ piece of modest clothing in my wardrobe?

I rarely wore shoes anymore since my conversion. I preferred the feel of the soft grass under my feet as I ran. Edward put on a form fitting gray sweater and black slacks. He slid into a pair of gray canvas shoes with a star on the sides. I raised my eyebrow.

"Converses?" I ventured. He nodded.

"Alice, of course. She saw them for sale last week and thought it was time I changed my look. She wasn't having much success with Jasper so she decided to try her hand at giving me a makeover," he explained.

I snorted. "Makeover. She needs to find another human friend who actually needs one—why doesn't she start with Jacob? It's about time he put on some clothes."

Edward laughed and pulled me tightly to him. "Indeed. I couldn't agree with you more," he breathed.

"Daddy? Mommy?" Renesmee's voice floated down the hall and into the closet.

"We're in here, honey," Edward said, lifting his voice just a bit.

One sixty-eighth of a second later, Renesmee stood before us with something small and brown clasped in her hand. My jaw fell open in shock as I hurried to stop my breath.

Edward's teeth clenched together with an audible snap.

"What is that?" I asked her, using up some of my air supply. I only asked because I wanted to know the specifics—I knew it was alive, I could hear a heartbeat fluttering away nearly as fast as Renesmee's.

"A sparrow," she answered timidly. "Can I keep it?"

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. It seemed like I was getting an awful lot of mileage out of that action these past few days. "Sparrow?" I echoed.

She nodded. "Promise me you won't eat her," she begged.

I was at a loss for words. Edward sighed. "It's her birthday," he whispered in my ear.

"That's the card she's going to play next. We may as well allow her." I swallowed hard.

"Go ahead, Nessie," he said carefully. "But you must keep her in your room with the door closed until your mother gets used to the idea." I understood why he said this. Being such a small creature, a closed door would prevent the scent of the blood from reaching too far out in the house. The only problem was that it would saturate her room by morning.

Thank heaven I didn't need to breathe.

"Thank you! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," she squealed. "This is the best birthday present ever!" I couldn't help but smile in response to her gleeful expression.

"What are you going to name it?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "Hyacinth," she said finally. "It's my favorite flower."

I would have answered her, but my oxygen supply was sorely depleted. I settled for smiling tenderly at her. She turned and rushed out the way she had come, and I could hear her in her room murmuring softly to the bird who—to my surprise—answered her with faint little cheeps. I smiled up at Edward, finally allowing myself to inhale. I was pleased to discover that the scent wasn't nearly as bad as I'd imagined it would be. Maybe she wouldn't have to keep her door closed for long. The smell was actually rather bland; it had the flavor of seeds and grass mixed in with the usual rusty aroma.

"Let's get out of here before something else weird happens," I said to Edward. He chuckled and nodded his assent. Taking my hand, he pulled me towards the door and we flew out of it and around Jacob, who was on his way in. I briefly registered his surprised expression as we blazed by.

**A/N: Well, there goes chapter 7. I hope you enjoyed it and, please, pretty please, review!!!!!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I may not own the copyright...but I do own the happyright...(okay..so that was really corny) I don't own Twilight or its characters. But Stephenie Meyer loves us enough to let us play with them. *big grin***

**A/N: I apologize for the long wait...you guys still love me right? Well....at least you love Edward and Bella. There's plenty of them here for you!!**

Chapter 8

We stopped by the house to pick up Nessie's dress. Alice had it enclosed in a long white garment bag, so I couldn't see how it looked yet. She gave Edward a grave look and I saw him nod solemnly.

I opened my mouth to ask what the big secret was, but Edward silenced me with a kiss. I pulled away. His eyes registered hurt. I hurried to explain myself before he could jump to the wrong conclusions, as he was well known for doing.

"You always think you can have these private conversations and leave me out of it," I complained. He relaxed then, and grinned at me. "All in due time, my Bella. . .all in due time."

I pouted and snatched the dress from him. Alice smothered a giggle and I shot her a withering glare. "You too, Alice. You owe me big time. I swore I would make you pay for those scanty clothes you packed for me a while back. . . if you could even call them clothes…they looked more like strings—don't think I forgot."

She gave me the most angelic smile ever and winked knowingly. "Take your time, Bella—you have all there is in the world."

Dang it! Why did I always lose these types of arguments?

I knew the answer. Because it was Alice and Edward I chose to argue with. Not the brightest choice if I expected to win. I sighed and turned to go out the door. Edward was right behind me.

A few moments later I perked up. There was _one _argument I hadn't lost—the one that had led me to be here right now. The most consequential of them all. I smiled and hummed to myself as my mood lifted and I skipped off towards the trees.

Edward was beside me, watching me with curiosity burning in his eyes. Would I ever cease to fascinate him? I hoped not.

"Why the sudden euphoria?" he asked with a wry smile.

"No reason," I replied, and skipped off further into the woods. I caught a brief glimpse of the frustrated expression that flashed across his face as I left him behind. But not for long.

In half a millisecond he was behind me, his arms locked around me in a vice grip.

"Bella," he growled.

I knew I could break loose if I wanted to, but I didn't want to.

I laughed. "The good lessons your self denial has taught you seem to be wearing off," I said.

He grinned wickedly. "Maybe my selfish nature is taking over just a bit." His teeth grazed my ear. "Now, will you tell me what you were thinking?"

"Nope."

He sighed in exasperation, but wasn't giving up yet. His teeth moved from my earlobe to my jugular, but they brushed over it so lightly that it made me shudder in delight.

"_Now will you tell me?_"

I made a valiant effort to control my breathing and failed miserably.

"I would have, but you just erased everything that was in my head," I gasped. I wasn't lying. He could have asked me if I was married to him and I would have said I didn't know. All I knew was that his lips were dangerously close to mine. . .and I had to focus.

Renesmee was waiting back at the house. . .with Jacob. Alone. I felt shock cross my face and before Edward had a chance to ask me what was wrong I stood at the door of the cottage.

I sighed in relief that quickly turned to bewilderment and then suspicion. Jacob was brushing Renesmee's hair? Wow. Hmph. I strode up to him and took the brush silently to continue the job myself. I didn't like the way she was seated between his legs on the ground. It looked as though Edward was on the same wavelength. He was glaring at

Jacob with an expression that didn't look too far off from a death threat. My suspicions were confirmed in the next moment.

"Sheesh, leech. I _know._ I can't help my thoughts, though, can I?" Jacob snapped.

"I can help you with that," Edward offered. "I'll see to it that no thoughts ever pass through that filthy mind of yours ever again."

I was torn between my shock and disgust at Jacob and my aggrievance with Edward for the death threat. I gave both of them a look and tried to diffuse the sudden tension.

"Jacob, thanks for staying with Renesmee. Alice needs you back at the house now," I lied.

It didn't fool him. He laughed. "Nice try, Bells. But I think I'll head back over to La Push and get ready for the party. My old man's bound to roll over somebody's foot without me around to help him dress."

"Then perhaps you should spend more time with your father instead of being someplace you're not wanted," Edward interjected. I looked up to argue but Renesmee beat me to the punch.

She glared up at Edward and I saw his eyebrows raise slightly in surprise as he listened to whatever she was thinking. "Alright," he conceded reluctantly. "Not entirely unwanted. It seems one person differs in opinion on that subject."

"Two, actually," I corrected him. He frowned, but nodded.

"I'd still rather you spent more time with your. . .biological family," he finished.

Renesmee giggled. He looked at her and smiled. "I could see if I said 'family' that you would object; I know you feel that Jacob is a part of this family."

I sighed. If she only knew how close that relation would be in the near future. I didn't want to think about that right now, though, so I changed the subject. I'd heard something that had caught my attention.

"Billy's coming?" I asked. He hadn't been here since my wedding to Edward over a year ago. I was under the impression that he was disgusted with me since hearing of my conversion.

"Yeah, he didn't wanna miss the first birthday of his future—" Edward silenced him with an icy glare.

Renesmee looked up in confusion and pressed her hand to my cheek to send me an accompanying image. The scene that had just passed replayed in my head, but from a different viewpoint, this time with me included in the view. I just shook my head at her and smiled. She shrugged and turned away, but I could see her forehead wrinkle in contemplation and knew she wasn't going to let it go. She just wouldn't say any more about it now.

"Just like your mother," Edward muttered. I smothered a giggle.

************

After Jacob left, Edward called Emmett on his cell phone and asked him to come over and keep an eye on Nessie until we returned. She wrinkled her nose and frowned up at him. I chuckled.

"I'll be fine by myself."

"I can imagine you will, Nessie, but I'm not taking any chances," Edward said calmly.

"But Emmett's gonna bother me," she protested.

He smiled down at her with what I imagined to be a condescending look. I wasn't too far off base.

"Stop looking at me so condescendingly. It's not nice," Nessie said, ducking her head in a pout. I burst out laughing. She glared up at me indignantly. "And it's not FUNNY either!"

I couldn't stop laughing. Edward looked pleased as we heard a tree crack in the distance and Emmett bounded into the clearing and swept Renesmee off her feet. He dangled her by one leg in the air. We heard the distinct sound of stone hitting stone and an "oomph" as Emmett doubled over. Renesmee used the opportunity of distraction to skip nimbly away and out of his reach. Edward gave Emmett a look that would have burned through anything but vampire skin.

Emmett grinned when he caught Edward's stare.

"Me and the lil crossbreed munchkin are just having a bit of fun," he said in his defense.

"Right Nessie?" She looked up at him and smiled brilliantly. The sunlight that broke through the cloud cover sparkled off her perfect, white teeth and glinted ever so slightly across her skin.

"You can go now, Daddy," she said. "Emmett won't let anything happen to me." I thought I caught a hint of sarcasm in her tone, and I smiled at her. My smile stretched into a grin as I saw Edward's brow furrow and then wrinkle in frustration.

"_Just like your mother,_" he grumbled. We turned and dashed off into the forest to hunt.

**************

Half an hour later, my thirst sated but my mind not sufficiently distracted, we ran back to the cottage. I immediately began to fret what sort of dress Alice had picked out for Nessie. She was only about seven years old in physical appearance, and Alice wasn't exactly known for tact when it came to what someone ought to wear according to their age. I let my imagination run away with me as I walked towards the front door. Edward noted my expression and kissed me lightly on my forehead.

"Don't worry about it, Bella," he reassured me. "Alice wouldn't dare cross you when it comes to Renesmee."

"I'm counting on that," I said shakily. He smiled and turned to disappear into the trees. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Renesmee lay on the floor, a paper in front of her and a box of colored pencils off to her right. Emmett sat silently—for once—and stared intently down at her creation, chin on his fist. Curious, I slid closer for a better look. What I saw took my breath away.

A wrought iron bird cage hung in the corner of a room—her room—next to a standing lamp with a soft pink glow emanating from it. The cage was delicately designed with bars curving up like twisted vines to meet in a delicate iron rose at the top. The door to it was open, and my eyes roved over the rest of the picture to see where the missing character was. In the middle of the page sat Renesmee, her bronze curls just as vivid on the paper as here in front of me. Her head was bent and in one of her small hands she held her sparrow. The other hand held out a fistful of seeds for it to peck at. I marveled at the detail that was visible in the picture. The intricateness of the wing curvature; one glance and one could see how fragile the bird was. The girl in the picture was the spitting image of Nessie.

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

She looked up at me and smiled. "Thanks, Mommy."

Putting away her coloring utensils and placing the paper on the dining room table, she sprang lightly up to me, looking for all the world like she was dancing. "Can I get dressed now?" she asked. "It's almost two o'clock."

I managed to hide my grimace. "Of course, Nessie, that's what I came back for. Come on, let's go see your dress."

"Yay!" Renesmee clapped. "I hope it's pink!"

Emmett took that as his cue to leave. With a gallant bow and sweep of an imaginary hat, he backed out the door and flew down the steps and into the woods.

We headed for her room and I held my breath as I waited outside the door for her to go and retrieve the garment bag that held the potential for all my worst fears to come to fruition. In actuality I held my breath because I didn't yet trust myself around her new pet. Even though I had just returned from a hunt, I didn't want to risk making any mistakes. The last thing I needed was to ruin her first birthday by having her very first pet for lunch.

Renesmee came out of her room then, interrupting my contemplations. She held up the white bag, her eyes glowing in excitement. I sighed and led the way to my room. She followed eagerly. I took the bag from her and unzipped it as she slid out of her bright pink jumper outfit.

I held the dress up and began to wonder if Alice had truly lost it. Those werewolves must really have been getting to her. Poor Alice. Or, this couldn't be designed by her. . .could it? I thought back to the prom in my junior year in high school. Alice had worn a black dress with geometrical cutout shapes baring most of her pale skin. At the graduation party it had been red leather pants. . .for crying out loud, when I woke up after my conversion I was wearing stilettos and a silk dress to _hunt_ in… this couldn't possibly be the work of the Alice _I _knew.

The dress I held in my hands was a soft pink color, light and airy. It was strapless, but a thin pink cardigan took care of that. The body reached just below the knees, and a shiny satin bow accented the waist. A sheer lace dotted with pink polka dots hung over the outside of the dress, flaring out slightly just underneath the hemline.

Renesmee gasped.

I was getting to that part. I needed to remember how to breathe in before I could actually perform the function of gasping. Clasping her hands together, Renesmee took two tiny steps forward. She reached out slowly towards the dress.

"Mommy. . .its… so….beautiful," she whispered.

"I know," I whispered too. I slid it off the hanger and gave it to her. She slipped it over her head.

Right as if on cue, the doorbell rang. But before I could think to move to answer it, Rosalie stood in the doorway.

Rosalie had always been and would always be the most stunning out of us all. But she had outdone even herself for today's party. She shone radiantly in a mid-thigh length leopard print dress with black spaghetti straps; the waist embellished with a stunning black mesh bow. _What was with Alice and the bows this week?_ The glossy material clung to her frame and accented every curve of her flawless body perfectly. I couldn't help but gawk for a moment.

"Alice sent me over with some things for you," she said, stepping fluidly into the room in her black stilettos. I regained my composure quickly and thanked her, taking the pink ballet slippers and the second garment bag she held in her hand. She turned to Renesmee.

"Nessie, darling, I'm going to fix your hair for you. Would you like it curled up or straight?"

Renesmee pondered this for a moment. "I'd like it straight, please," she said. "I want to look like Mommy." My heart swelled with pride. My little girl wanted to look like me. Plain, little old, nobody-special-until-recently, me. I choked up a bit.

Rosalie swept out of the room with Nessie at her heels. I turned to open the other garment bag and found my blue chiffon dress inside. Taking it out, I smiled to myself as I admired it again; the blue folds flowing softly over each other. I heard the faint rustling sound it made as the material brushed against itself. Slipping the dress over my head, I smoothed it out and sighed as I headed towards my closet in search of the blue heels Alice had so graciously adorned me with the first day I awoke as a vampire.

Standing in the giant closet, I scanned the hundreds of shoeboxes quickly, searching for the word _blue_. I was just beginning to think that maybe I didn't have them anymore when my eyes fell on the sketch of the heels I was looking for on the bottom shoebox to the right. Great. It had at least twelve boxes stacked on top of it. It would be just my luck to have it all come tumbling down on top of me. I gauged the distance and mentally calculated the speed I would have to pull the box out with to prevent the pending catastrophe. Taking a deep breath, I swiftly shot my hand out and snatched the box. There was a faint clunk, and all the other boxes shifted one space down. I looked down. The box

I needed was there in my hand. A triumphant grin stretched across my face, and with renewed courage I tore the lid off the box and slid into the stiletto heels. Maybe I would be able to walk in these after all.

I went back to my bedroom to fix my hair and heard the unmistakable sounds of a blow-dryer running coming from the bathroom. Okay, so I would have to wait. Rosalie was using it, and I decided to go have a look at the progress that was being made in the makeshift salon. But as soon as I reached the door, it slammed in my face. I stopped, taken aback and not a little bit offended. But Rosalie's musical voice carried through the door effortlessly and had some amusement in it, so my anger abated. Just a little.

"Not yet, Bella," she said. "You can't see the masterpiece until it's completed. It would be a crime."

I sulked off to wait in my room.

Ten minutes later, I heard the bathroom door open and the click of heels on the wooden floor. I could also hear Renesmee's soft, muted footsteps as she walked alongside Rosalie, but judging from the sound of it she must have been a few centimeters behind her.

I was looking up expectantly, but all my imaginings had not prepared me for the brunette beauty that met my eyes. If she had been more beautiful than Edward when she was born, she was now more beautiful than Rosalie. Her naturally curly reddish brown hair was impeccably straight, and hung past her knees. The front section of her hair was swept up around her crown, and formed a smooth, loose bun nearly at the back of her head. A few stray sections of hair had been pulled down to frame her slim face. I gasped.

Renesmee blushed. "Mommy, you're embarrassing me. Don't stare at me like that," she said shyly.

"You look beautiful," I told her. Rosalie smiled smugly.

"Of course she does. Now it's your turn. Hurry, I know your hair takes twice as long even though it's only half the length of hers."

I was glad that the shared experience of fighting to save Renesmee had eased some of the ill will she'd harbored towards me ever since before we'd even met. It didn't make me any more eager to play Barbie, though. I held true to form and marched off to the bathroom with a martyred expression. Nessie giggled from behind me.

Rosalie stretched the cord of the blow-dryer and adjusted it to a slightly higher heat setting. She picked up a rounded brush and began blowing out my hair, dragging the brush swiftly through my tangled tresses. I took note of the fact that it probably would have hurt like all heck if I was still human, and gratefully breathed a silent thanks for the fact that this was one more aspect of humanity that I would not miss. I had always been terribly tender-headed. I used to give Renee the time of her life when she had to comb my hair, running this way and that to avoid it. Once I even buried the hairbrush in the backyard, but needless to say I got in a truckload of trouble once she found out.

Rosalie had been wrong about my hair. In about five minutes she was done, and was rolling curlers through my hair. I grumbled a bit, not really wanting to sit still the amount of time it would take for the curlers to set. She smacked my head with the comb she had been using to part my hair, and three of the teeth broke off and fell to the floor when it hit my forehead. Rose sucked her teeth and growled under her breath.

"Now look what you did," she hissed. "Hold still while I get another one." She stalked off to my room and I heard her rummaging around in my dresser for another comb. In three seconds she was back.

She finished putting the curlers in my hair and left again to get the clips she would use. I passed the few moments wondering idly what Edward had chosen to get Nessie for her birthday. Knowing him, it would probably be something big. I sincerely hoped it wasn't a car. I made up my mind that if anyone tried to pull that, I wouldn't speak to them for a year. No, make that a decade. Right.

Rosalie was back before I had much of a chance to think of anything else. She removed the curlers from my hair expertly and let my locks fall down in cascading waves down my back. Taking the blue sapphire hairpin my mother had given me on my wedding day, she pushed it into my hair above my right ear, pulling back a portion. Dark curls framed the other side of my face.

"Are you done now?" I asked, not wanting to look up at her. I didn't want to effectively squash what little self confidence I had built up over the past few minutes.

She laughed. "Yes. You are impatient, Bella. You haven't changed a bit since you were human."

I smiled at that. "I'm glad," I said. "I was always worried that I wouldn't be the same Bella anymore."

"Don't you worry," she looked at me with an expression so tender—was it really Rosalie who just looked at me like that? She must have forgiven me even more than I'd thought for wanting to be a vampire. "There's nothing that can take away that Bella that you are."

I smiled gratefully, and rose. Together we walked out the door and down the hall to Renesmee's room. She was standing in the door waiting for us and silently glided out and took my hand. We walked out the door and down the steps carefully, not mussing up our fancy shoes, and headed towards the big white house in the clearing.

**A/N: Guys, I just recently figured out how to track the traffic on my story...and discovered I have over two hundred readers. WOW. You guys are amazing. However..........*twiddles fingers and bats eyelashes* I only have thirteen reviews so far. Now, don't you think we can do better than that?**

***readers nod heads***

**Great!! So I'd really, really, REALLY appreciate if everyone who reads this chapter could just leave a little note saying they were here and what they think of the story...it would make my day!**

**Pwetty pwease?? With...Edward Cullen on top?? I know you all can't resist _that...._**

**Love, Cahryn K.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Guys...guys...guys. I know I've been MIA for like, what? A month now? Please don't hate me. Life has been chasing me down, and it eventually tackled me. I've had so much going on besides my Chem classes that I'm taking over the summer at my college that....I've barely been able to sleep let alone think to write. *very innocent face* But you guys love Nessie, right? And who loves birthday parties? *winks* Cullen-style birthday parties? You know you want it. You know you do. You do. *nods* **

**Anyhow, here's the next chapter that should never have taken so long to get up...and its pretty long, so I hope you all enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but I do reserve the right to keep all the Cullens and Blacks and Clearwaters alive in my heart forever...and share them with you, too!!!**

Chapter 9, The Party

As we approached the clearing near the house, I heard a frenzy of activity and shuffling about coming from behind the large glass windows. Nessie looked up at me and grinned in expectation. I squeezed her hand.

We stepped out onto the lawn.

The door opened and Alice flew out to meet us, wearing a little black dress with spaghetti straps that was all sequins. It flattered her small frame, reaching midway down her thighs.

She clapped her hands in excitement and bounded to a stop in front of us.

"Oh, just look at you two! Bella, you are a vision from heaven. . .and Nessie!" she gushed. "Just look at you, turn around, let me see you, oh you're so perfect, Jake's going to love you…well of course—"

I interrupted her quickly. "Jake's here already?" She nodded. "Oh Bella, you're gorgeous.

I can't wait to see Edward's face when he sees you in that dress. He'll be thanking me for the next decade!" She dashed around behind Renesmee and covered her eyes. I noted with some surprise that they were the same height now. A small portion of my mind worried how much longer it would be before she was nearly as tall as me. Alice was still chattering away.

"You're going to love all the decorations, I modeled them after one of the bedrooms you designed when you were drawing a few weeks ago. And everybody's here, of course, no one wanted to miss your first birthday—you're growing up so fast! Okay, no peeking; we're almost there." She guided her up the steps and to the door.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!"

Nessie jumped a little. I could tell she hadn't been expecting the sudden shout, and I chuckled softly. She blushed and smiled as she looked around, taking in all the faces of those who had come to wish her a happy birthday. Emmett stood next to Carlisle and Jasper behind the large white sofa. The grin on Emmett's face was ridiculously huge. Esme stood beside Emily and Sue, off to the left, and beside them were Seth, Embry, Sam, and Quil, who held Claire in his arms. Seth was waving at Nessie like a maniac.

Charlie stood just behind Sue, his face lit up with excitement and pride like I'd never seen it before—except for at my graduation. Kate, Tanya, Carmen and Eleazar stood to the right, in shocking contrast both in skin pallor and aesthetic beauty to their human counterparts on the opposite end of the sofa.

Jacob rushed forward and grabbed Renesmee up in a bear hug. He wore black slacks, and a white button down that had the first three buttons open, allowing his smooth russet skin to flow down uninterrupted from his neck to the middle of his chest. "How's my favorite girl in the whole world doing?" he asked, a bright sunny grin on his face.

"Great," she replied with a smile. Then she squirmed. "Put me down Jake, you're gonna mess up my dress."

"That's my niece," Alice beamed. Then she scowled at Jacob. "You ought to know better than to mess with a Cullen girl's dress," she warned him.

All of this was passing through my subconscious mind. At the moment I had thoughts only for one man. Edward. I quickly scanned the crowd again, but came up one short.

Rosalie had gone to stand beside Emmett by the couch, bringing the vampire count up by one, and I started to feel panicky. Where was Edward?

A small movement in my peripheral vision caught my eye. My head whipped towards it.

Instant relief. Edward stood by the grand piano, off to the side from everyone else, watching me. His gold eyes were unreadable. No, not unreadable. They were filled with some sort of strong emotion, simmering just below the surface. He took another step towards me.

I soaked in his appearance with every sense I had. He was glorious. I had seen him in black only twice before, once at the prom he'd forced me to go to when he was still set on me having as many human experiences as possible, and the other time at our wedding. It set off the white of his skin with a shocking and breathtaking contrast. His eyes stood out, gold and bright, filled with whatever it was he was feeling right now.

I took two steps and closed the distance between us.

He stood there, not moving, gazing down at me with . . .wonder? Not exactly. There was a fire in his eyes, and I recognized that. _That _stood for desire. Hmm. Did I look that nice? I'd like to think so.

Edward reached his hand out slowly and brought it to rest on my neck. His golden eyes smoldered into mine, burning with the intensity of his gaze. I felt flickers of electricity behind my eyes when I looked at him.

Ever so slowly, he brought his other hand up and cupped my right cheek, stroking it with his thumb. "Bella," he whispered.

I swallowed and tried to find my tongue. He was so beautiful.

"Yes?" I faltered.

"You are exquisite." He said simply. I breathed a shaky sigh, carefully letting out a small piece of the desire that filled my stomach with butterflies when I heard his voice and twisted it with a familiar yearning. It had only been a few hours since I'd last seen him, but it felt like an eternity.

He leaned his head down, never taking his eyes off my face, and pressed his lips to mine.

I breathed in his heady scent, reminding myself to stay in control. We had an audience.

He moved his hand from my throat down to my waist, sliding it lightly along my arm. It came to rest on the small of my back as he drew me closer to him, pressing my body against his. I wrapped my arms around his neck and chanted in my head. _Control. Control. Cont— shoot! What was I thinking? _Everything disappeared and it was just me and him as I hungrily tasted his lips and entwined my fingers into his hair at the roots. He didn't hesitate to reciprocate, and we continued like that for I don't know how long, falling into each other.

A throat cleared loudly.

I started, jerking back suddenly to look up into the eyes of…Charlie. Oh no. I may have been a bloodless vampire, but my cheeks burned in mortification as what I had just allowed to happen sunk in. Had I been human, I would have been blushing crimson.

Charlie coughed and looked away.

"Why don't you all er…join us, so Nessie can open her presents?" he asked uncomfortably.

"Sure dad," I mumbled, following behind him at a snail's pace—too embarrassed to walk beside him.

I snuck a glance up at Edward, who was smirking as he stared at Charlie's back. I gasped as realization hit.

"You knew!" I accused him. His smile only grew wider. I stared at him in shock and utter disbelief that was quickly turning to irritation. Edward sensed the change in my mood and murmured quickly to appease me.

"We're a married couple, now, Bella. He can't say anything. Besides, I've been dying— if you'll excuse the pun—to do that in front of him for the longest. The look on his face was priceless." He attempted to stifle a laugh, but it didn't quite work, so he hurried to disguise it as coughing. Charlie wasn't fooled. He whirled to glare at him with a look so irate that it reminded me of the time he found out about my motorcycle excursions. Was it really only two years ago? It seemed like decades.

We followed everyone into the dining room. I could tell Esme was happy to finally have an excuse to use it for its intended purpose. Nessie and Jacob usually ate either in the kitchen or the living room, as did Seth, when he was over. I scanned the room quickly for Renesmee and found her talking to Seth with Jacob attached to her by the hip—almost literally. He had his arm around her waist and held her tightly to his side as though someone might try to snatch her away from him any moment. Which was highly possible, considering the way Rose was eyeing him right now.

She held a legal sized envelope behind her back as she stood behind one of the beribboned chairs. Edward followed my gaze and grew tense beside me. I looked up at him.

"What's the matter?"

"Hmm?" his expression turned to one of oblivious innocence. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you suddenly uncomfortable?" I asked.

His eyes scanned the room quickly, looking for an excuse. He found one. "I don't like the way Jacob is holding Renesmee," he murmured into my ear, too low for anyone else to hear besides the supernatural people in the room. Which was pretty much everyone. I scowled at him.

"That's not what you were looking at. You saw me looking at Rose and then you froze."

"Nice rhyming there," he said with an angelic smile. "Have you ever considered writing poetry?"

I glowered at him and turned my attention to where Carlisle was lighting the candles on the cake.

"You _will _tell me later," I said under my breath. He kept the same smile on his face as he never took his eyes of Carlisle.

"You'll find out soon enough. You always do," he said through his teeth, so low that even with my improved hearing I wasn't sure I heard right.

I shrugged under his arm and he laughed tensely.

Renesmee blew out her candles; they were the digit kind, and there were two question marks instead of numbers. Emmett's idea of a joke. Everyone clapped and cheered, and Embry and Quil howled like wolves. Rosalie shot them each a withering glare and they shut right up. One second it sounded like a coyote party, and the next there was absolute silence. I couldn't help but laugh, and soon, everyone else joined in.

Then it was time for presents. First Carlisle and Esme gave her a computer program for tween interior designers. She loved to draw different layouts, and when she wasn't by Jacob's side she was with Esme designing the inside of the houses that Esme drew the blueprints for. Then it was Charlie and Sue's turn. Sue gave her an afghan that she had woven with a reddish brown wolf on it, and Charlie had painstakingly taken the time to learn to stitch so that he could sew her name into it. I was impressed.

Embry, Quil, and Seth said their gift was out back, so they waited until last. Jacob decided to wait with them before giving his. Tanya and Kate gave her a bath set, winking at her and telling her she could make herself smell even nicer for the boys when she started school. Both Edward and Jacob growled at them. I wasn't too far from doing that myself.

Alice gave Nessie a package of gift cards to every clothing store in Seattle, Port Angeles, and Vancouver. I rolled my eyes. As if she didn't already have more clothes than could possibly ever be worn. Nessie seemed happy enough, though. Jasper gave her an mp3 player already filled with all of her favorite music. She was a diehard fan of rock bands like Phil. She had listened to the CD he had given me a few years back before I moved to Forks and fell in love with the group. It was all downhill from there. Now her favorite bands were Linkin Park (from Phil's CD), Muse, Disturbed and a strange guy who called himself Buckethead and made screaming guitar solos. I honestly wondered where she got her taste in music from.

Finally it was Emmett and Rose's turn. She turned to smirk at me before going up to Renesmee.

"Nessie, angel, your Auntie Rose got you the best present of them all," she crooned. It looked like she was back to her old conceited ways again. I frowned in disgust. Rose turned around to face everyone.

"Does anyone here know what Nessie here has been _dying_ to have for about a month now?" she asked the crowd.

Murmurs in the negative ran through the group, but Jacob nodded knowingly and elbowed Ness. Rosalie didn't acknowledge him. She was about to continue when Emmett cut her off. She glared at him, but he rubbed her arm.

"Just relax, babe." He said. "I just wanna hear something from Bella first." His eyes twinkled with mischief. I eyed him warily.

He turned to me. "Bella. . .what kind of car did Nessie say she liked?" His grin grew wider as he anticipated my response. I felt Edward stiffen beside me.

It was a touchy subject, and he obviously remembered my response the last time it had been broached, but I didn't think anything of it because I had specifically stated—or rather decreed—that Renesmee was not to drive any type of vehicle again before at least another six months to a year had passed.

I racked my brain for an answer. What was it she had said? A Montessouri….no. A . . .a. . .

"I don't know." I said testily, rather peeved that he would choose now to ask me such a question when there were so many others present to witness my certain disgrace. "A Mozzarella Grand Toronto or something like that, I don't really remember." I mumbled this with my head down.

It snapped up quicker than I would have thought possible when Emmett's loud guffaw shook the house. All the men and boys joined in, and I shot daggers at Edward from the corner of my eye. He was shaking so hard with laughter that he couldn't stand upright. I crossed my arms and squared my shoulders.

"You know I don't give a crap about cars," I said loudly. "Or anything else mechanical, for that matter. How would you expect me to remember a name that complicated anyway?"

Rosalie collected herself and smiled at me. "I have to admit, Bella, that was worth being interrupted for. It was absolutely hilarious." She laughed a moment more. "For the record, it's a Maserati GranTurismo. And I bought one for Nessie."

I started to see red.

Jasper was by my side in a flash, but not nearly as quickly as he would have been if

Charlie had not been present. He gripped my arms tightly and I felt a wave of calm wash over me. The blinding rage began to subside, and I looked pointedly at Rosalie. Nessie was watching me with enormous brown eyes.

"Why. On. God's. Good. Earth. Would. You. Do. That.?" I asked between my teeth. "I specifically told you—all of you—that Nessie is not to be behind the operating area of any type of vehicle for at least the next _six months_."

Rose was unmoved. "I know that, Bella," she said as though she were stating some obvious fact that I was too stupid to have seen. "I didn't go against your will. The car isn't here. She won't be able to drive it until you allow her to, and all I have here is the title to the car in her name. Well, her alias, anyhow."

That calmed me down. "Thank you, Jasper," I said quickly, too low for anyone to hear who shouldn't. "You can let go of me now." He hesitated, sampling the mood in the air around me, and then nodded and stepped away.

"Okay," I said. "So what's her alias?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "You gave it to her," she said, an edge of annoyance in her voice now. "Vanessa Wolfe."

I would have sworn Jacob's eyes bugged out to reach the edge of the table from where he stood against the wall. So did every other Quileute family member's. Right. I had never told anyone but Edward and the family about my plans to give Renesmee to Jacob when it looked like the Volturi would kill us. Awkward time for them to find out. I shifted my weight uncomfortably.

"Oh," I said stupidly.

Rose snickered and turned to Nessie, who had slowly begun to inch forward from where she stood pressed between Jacob and Seth when it became apparent that she would be allowed to keep her car. She now burst forward and jumped into Rose's arms, squealing excitedly.

"Oh yay! Thank you so much Aunt Rosie! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Rosalie laughed and kissed her on the top of her head. "You're welcome, Ness," she said.

Edward stepped forward. "I believe it's time for our gift." He gathered up Renesmee in his arms. "Cover your eyes," he said, and then paused. "No, Alice, it's only fair that I'm allowed to do the honors for this one."

Alice pouted.

I looked at him questioningly. "Alice wanted to be able to cover her eyes," he told me with a smile. He swept past all of us and towards the back room, Nessie giggling in his arms the entire way. He stopped when he reached the doorway and set her on her feet.

"Can I open my eyes now?" she asked impatiently. I came to stand beside them.

"Not yet," Edward said. "This gift is from your mother and I, and we want you to take good care of it and use it well. Practice every day, and soon it will pay off."

"Probably knows how to use the thing already, little braniac that she is," Emmett muttered from behind me.

"Open your eyes now," I told her softly.

Renesmee took her hands away from her eyes with swiftness and scanned the room. I heard her intake of breath when her eyes fell upon our gift to her.

In the middle of the room, the television had been moved, and in its place stood a white baby grand piano. On the side was painted with a flourish _Renesmee C. Cullen_. The piano bench was white and cushioned, with knobs for feet and silver lining around the stitching on the edges.

Her hands came up to cover her mouth as she stood there speechless for a moment. Then she slowly walked up to it and ran her hand along the smooth, shiny cover.

"It was your mother's idea," Edward said.

"Thank you so much, Mommy," Renesmee said. Her voice sounded strange, a little muffled. Was she crying?

"You're welcome," I said quietly.

Her head whipped around. "Thank you Mommy," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't say it before."

I looked at her, perplexed. "Yes, you did," I said. "That's why I said you're welcome." I glanced at Edward for confirmation.

He was staring at me, wide-eyed and frozen. I felt my eyebrows draw together in confusion.

"What?" I asked him. I turned to look at everyone else. They all had expressions ranging from confused to stunned. Interestingly, the vampires all had stunned looks, and everyone else besides Jacob and Seth looked entirely perplexed by our little exchange.

"You heard that?" Edward asked me.

"Um, yeah… she said it loud and clear," I replied, unsure as to why he was looking at me that way. My hearing was just as good as his, and he'd never doubted me before. It stung a little to know he thought I didn't measure up to him in some ways. I always knew him and I were in two totally different leagues. I felt small suddenly.

"No, she—," Edward said. He thought for a moment, and appeared to change his mind about what he had been going to say. "It's just that she said it very quietly. Let's see what Jacob has for her. Jacob?" he called. "I believe it is your turn now."

I saw him nod ever so slightly at Carlisle, who was watching him with a meaningful expression. My brain raced away quickly, and I concluded that they must not want the humans—Charlie—to realize just how excellent our hearing really was. I relaxed. I could keep up a front until Charlie was gone.

Jacob walked forward with a huge smile on his face. He held one hand behind his back, and in it was a package wrapped in green tissue paper. It had a white ribbon tied to it in the shape of a bow. He knelt down in front of her so that they were on eye level with each other.

"Close your eyes," he said. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and fidgeted.

"Now hold out your hand," he instructed her. She stuck her hand out in front of her like a spatula. He grinned even wider as he cupped his free hand under hers to steady it and brought the package out from behind his back. He balanced it on her hand.

"Open them?" she asked.

"NO!" he whispered quickly. "Not yet."

"Aww," she complained. Edward tensed beside me and I saw why in the very next second. Jacob planted a huge, wet, sloppy kiss on her left cheek. She jumped slightly.

"Ewwwwww! Gross, Jake!" she complained, wiping furiously at her face with her empty hand. Jacob nearly toppled over laughing.

"Happy Birthday, Nessie," he said. "You can open your eyes now."

She did as she was told, still scrubbing at her cheek with her arm so that it was now tinged a faint red. She looked down at the package she held. It was a rounded, flat shape at the top, and extended down into a rectangle. I could see now why it was wrapped in tissue. It wouldn't have fit into any box. I wondered what it could be.

She quickly tore the ribbon off and held it in her teeth while unwrapping the paper with her hands. A brown circle became visible, with white net inside of it. It looked vaguely familiar, as though I had seen something similar before, but I didn't have to wait long to find out. The green tissue fell to the floor and in her hands she held a beautiful brown colored dream catcher. The circle surrounding the net had tiny wolf paw prints engraved into it, and long white eagle feathers with brown tips hung from the sides and bottom. Beads in every shade of brown were strung along the leather strings that held the feathers.

"Wow, Jake, it's beautiful," she whispered. He smiled tenderly at her. His expression had become abruptly serious as soon as she started unwrapping the gift. "Did you make it?"

He nodded. She smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He stiffened, suddenly, and I saw Edward react in a similar way. He looked at Edward with a questioning expression, and Edward nodded at him. He raised his eyebrows, and Edward shook his head.

Alright, now I could see what Emmett was always going on about. It was absolutely maddening when Edward had these silent conversations and you weren't in the know. I restrained my frustration, though, because my dad was still in the room. It wouldn't do to ask "What did Jacob just tell you with his mind?" when Charlie had no idea about us being vampires, much less our special cognitive abilities that accompanied this. Besides, I wasn't entirely eager to have Jasper start messing with my endorphins again.

"Thank you, Jakey," Nessie said into his shoulder. He rubbed her back and grinned.

"You're welcome."

"My turn!" Seth sang, bouncing across the room and pulling Nessie's hand. "Come on, its outside. We'll show you, 'cuz it's from all of us La Push boys."

Quil and Embry followed after him, trailed closely by Claire and everyone else.

"Do I have to close my eyes again?" Nessie inquired.

"Nope," Seth replied heartily. "It's hidden around the corner of the house anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

"Yes!" Nessie whispered under her breath. There was a collective chuckle from those near her.

We rounded the bend at the corner of the house and Renesmee stopped short. Her hands flew up to her mouth in surprise and she let something that sounded a lot like a squeak.

She jumped up and down and then threw herself at Seth, crushing him in a bear hug. She turned to Quil and Embry and hugged each of them in turn, and then she picked up Claire and swung her around once before putting her down again. Claire giggled and wrapped her arms around Renesmee's leg. I came closer to see what the gift was. And I had to admit, it amazed me.

At the corner of the house stood a tall wooden structure. Wooden bars crisscrossed back and forth over it, forming a sort of cage. Wait, that was exactly what it was. Soft cheeps came from inside it, and a small, rounded, brown creature flew over to perch near where Renesmee's face was close to the bars.

"Hyacinth," Nessie smiled. "Hello there, missy. Are you hungry?" The bird replied with short little chirps and cocked its head to the side. Nessie bent down and picked up a blade of grass and stuck it through the bars to the bird. The sparrow snatched the piece of grass and flew back to the corner it had come from, on the opposite end of the cage. It paused there and looked down, chattering noisily. Nessie laughed.

"Thanks so much, everybody," she said, beaming. "It was wonderful. I loved it, and my presents are so sweet. Thank you, everyone."

I marveled internally at the formal way she addressed those standing there. Just another one of those things she got from Edward—sounding like she belonged with people of a much older time; or at least, in her case, a much older age group.

We all went back inside to cut the cake. Jacob stood next to her, and when his attention was directed otherwise, she snagged a bit of frosting on her finger and smeared it across his face. He gasped in shock and laughed.

Everyone who ate human food on a regular basis had and enjoyed the chocolate layer cake. Nessie seemed to really like it, and I saw Esme smile at her in satisfaction as she took her second slice.

Later on, we played traditional games, like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and sat around and laughed with each other. Everyone seemed comfortable and at ease, and I settled into Edward's silent stone chest as I rejoiced silently over how everything had fallen into place perfectly. Maybe the party wasn't so bad after all, I thought to myself. Nothing detrimental had happened, and I was happy with my family. Even Charlie was able to be here.

I was so caught up in this bliss that I forgot completely about the odd little exchange Edward and Carlisle had shared.

**A/N: Review, guys, REVIEW!!! Pretty please????? Reviews are better for me than Edward and Bella being so caught up in the moment that they didn't see Charlie...... ;-)**

**Much love, **

**~Cahryn K.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: And…finally!!! What you've all been waiting for!! Drumroll, please…….*drums roll down mountainside* IT'S NESSIE!!!!! Yes indeed, the story is finally being told from her POV. *smiles* I just love writing Nessie. She's so sweet. I hope you'll enjoy reading her thoughts as much as I enjoy writing them!!**

****A Note: Please remember that Nessie is in reality only one year old, yet physically, she is around seven or eight, but mentally, she is around twelve. Besides the fact that she devours classic novels as though they were vitally necessary to her survival…she's surrounded by well-spoken people all day long. I don't want anyone to feel that the way she speaks is too …old…for her…. So she doesn't exactly sound that much like a little kid….=)****

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or any of the characters--for now. *cackles madly* Hahahahaha…..*cough cough* *chokes* Oh alright. I don't own Twilight period. SM does, and she rocks for that.**

Chapter 10.

The Party-Getting Ready- By Renesmee

My hand paused over the paper in front of me as I heard footsteps on the grass outside.

Mommy and Daddy were back from hunting. Great! Now I could finally put on my dress and go to the house. It was my first birthday, and Aunt Alice had spent weeks planning a semi-surprise celebration for me. I didn't have the same aversion to attention as my mother, and so I'd been waiting halfway patiently this entire week for today to come. I didn't think I'd be able to stand the suspense much longer.

I wished Mommy would hurry up and come inside already.

"Why'd you stop?" Emmett asked from his spot on the floor across from me. I put the pencil back to the paper quickly. I couldn't let anyone see how anxious I really was for the party to start, or I would ruin whatever impression of nonchalance I'd managed to construct this week. If only Alice knew how close to insane it had driven me when she banned me from the house these past two days. I didn't want her to feel badly—after all, she was just trying to make the party as enjoyable as possible for me. Evidently, she didn't factor my sanity into the equation.

I could hear voices outside the door. Daddy was talking to Mommy about my dress. The corner of my mouth twitched. She worried too much. Alice knew better than to dress me in anything inappropriate. She'd only make sure it was fashionable. If she had to, she would dress me in a pillowcase and make it look like it belonged in Bloomingdales. Although it might literally kill her if she ever had to do that. I continued coloring in the feathers of the bird I had sketched on the page. I was drawing a picture of myself with my pet sparrow, Hyacinth. I'd found her sitting on a branch of the bush that grew outside my bedroom window this morning, singing her heart out.

Carefully opening the window, I had gently eased my hand out, whistling a soft tune that I'd composed on my dad's piano maybe a month ago. She looked at my hand, cocked her head to the side, and much to my surprise and excitement, hopped down from her perch onto my wrist. I couldn't believe it. I wanted so badly to keep her, but I was inwardly afraid Mommy might decide to have her for a snack before I even got the chance to ask.

After a moment of debate, I decided it was worth a shot. Besides, Daddy would be able to see my thoughts and understand how much it meant to me. He'd be able to stop her if she lost control. My daddy had the most self control of anyone here, except maybe Grandpa Carlisle.

The door opened and Mommy came inside. She paused at the door, and I kept on coloring. I didn't look up.

She drifted closer, and came to a stop directly over me. She was silent for a while. Taking in my picture, I supposed.

"It's beautiful," she whispered after a moment.

I looked up at her. She looked as though she were in awe of something. What could it be? My picture? No, I didn't think so. It wasn't anywhere near as good as Alice's drawings. But nonetheless, she looked to be in a pretty good mood, and I decided to take advantage of this to make my move.

"Thanks, Mommy," I replied. I jumped up and put away my art supplies as quickly and calmly as I could. Then I skipped over to her.

"Can I get dressed now?" I asked innocently. "It's almost two o'clock."

The party was scheduled to start at three, and if I didn't get into my dress soon, I was going to have a heart attack. I hadn't even seen it yet. My heart raced away in excitement.

Thankfully, it was always fast, so hopefully Mommy wouldn't notice the slightly frenzied pace.

The smile fell from her face instantly, but she managed to salvage one corner of it. "Of course, Nessie," she said halfheartedly. "That's what I came back for. Come on, let's go see your dress."

Finally!

"Yay!" I clapped my hands. "I hope it's pink!"

Emmett decided he'd heard enough to warn him that he was now in dangerous female territory, and without a word he backed out the door, bowing like a character from one of Jane Austen's novels. I giggled to myself as he left.

Mommy turned and began walking down the hall to my room. I followed closely behind her.

We reached the door that was mine, and Mommy waited outside as I went in to get the bag that held the dress. Hyacinth chirped at me from her perch inside the iron cage my uncle Jasper had found for her. He'd made it when he had trained as a blacksmith many years ago, not too long after he married Alice. It amazed me how he was able to dredge one up so quickly. But then again, he loved to collect antiques, and had an entire closet in the attic of the big house filled with little trinkets from his many years spent with so much spare time on his hands. He was my favorite uncle.

I retrieved the bag and hurried back out of the room, holding it up triumphantly for Mommy to see. She sighed and did an about face, heading towards her bedroom. I tagged along eagerly.

When we got inside, I handed her the bag and turned away from her, slipping out of my pink jumper outfit. It seemed the only clothes Alice ever bought for me were either pink or cream colored. Not that I minded. Those two colors had grown on me, and now my favorites were light pink and a very pale shade of green. I loved all the other colors too, but I preferred them in pastel shades.

I heard the rustle of cloth against plastic and threw my jumper over the back of the chair by the door. _Finally_ I would be able to see my dress. I turned around to face Mommy, and saw her hold it out in front of her, inspecting it.

Oh. My. Goodness.

The dress was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. It was a soft sort of pink, just barely frilly, and quietly elegant at the same time. The light polka dots scattered on the outer layer of it reminded me of a bedroom theme I had designed one day when I was helping Grandma Esme with her blueprints; I had drawn a bedroom set with light pink ovals as décor on the walls and small pink polka dots on the bedspread. All I had to do now was put on this dress and I would be living in the fairytale room.

I was in love.

A moment passed where I was speechless before I found my breath to sufficiently make any sort of sensible sound come out of my mouth.

I took two tiny steps toward the dress, afraid it might disappear if I moved too fast.

"Mommy. . .its… so….beautiful," I whispered.

"I know," she murmured.

She handed me the dress, and I took it from her carefully. Wow. It was real. I could hold it. I slipped it over my head and smoothed it down over the rest of me. It fit perfectly.

Just then, the doorbell rang. I saw Mommy turn towards the sound, but before she had taken a step, Aunt Rosie stood in the door. She had on an amazing leopard print dress and enormous black heels.

Alright. As much as I might like fashion, Alice was never going to get me to wear heels like those.

Ever.

But Rosie looked nice in them. My eyes focused on what she held in her hand. She noticed this and stepped forward.

"Alice sent me over with some things for you," she said, handing my mother a pair of small, pink ballet slippers and another white dress bag. I couldn't remember the fancy name for it. The bag that held clothes. Whatever. I was sure the next time Daddy heard me think that he'd correct me anyway. That was what he did all the time; any time he heard me think some word in the wrong context or struggle to remember one, he would tell me the correct thing. It used to be extremely annoying, but it became much less frequent once I started paying attention and actually trying to remember the right way to use the words. Now he barely had to correct me at all.

Aunt Rosie turned to me.

"Nessie, darling, I'm going to fix your hair for you. Would you like it curled up or straight?" she asked.

I took a moment to ponder that. My hair was always curly, like my Grandpa Charlie's, but it had been that way as long as I could remember. I glanced over at my mother's flowing straight hair and my decision was instantly made. If I could get a chance to look like the most beautiful woman in the family—and probably the world—why not take it?

"I'd like it straight, please," I told her. "I want to look like Mommy."

She nodded in satisfaction, as though that had been exactly what she'd been thinking, and whisked me off to the bathroom. I was deposited on a stool in the middle of the floor, and she disappeared in search of her salon tools. I started to get a little nervous.

I had never had my hair done before, in any other style than to keep it out of the way when I hunted. That usually consisted of either one straight braid down my back, or pigtails when Alice was in an extra-girly mood. All other times my hair flowed down past my hips in a wild mass of unruly curls.

What if I didn't look good with straight hair? I didn't really look like my mommy; my face more closely resembled that of my father. And then there were my eyes, which were the exact replicas of Grandpa Charlie. So if I looked the most like two men, how was I supposed to look good when I was trying to look like the most beautiful woman in the world?

I worked myself into a near frenzy while I waited for Aunt Rosie to come back. She returned after a few seconds to find me bouncing up and down impatiently on the seat.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked, leaning her head to the side and twisting one eyebrow up suspiciously.

"Nothing," I replied, freezing in place. "Just bored." That was a lie. I was as far from bored as could possibly be. I couldn't have been less bored had I been writing an encyclopedia on the fine mechanics of cardiac function. Which I knew all about.

Aunt Rosie smiled down at me. "Well, you'll have to get used to this. It's the best part of being a girl." I hid my grimace. That wasn't what I was worried about! But I'd never admit that to her. She thought she was the most beautiful of all the adults, and there was no telling her otherwise. Besides, she'd just tell me that I was already gorgeous. I didn't need to hear that nonsense again, although I knew I was lucky to be the only one she ever bestowed compliments on.

Everyone in my family outdid me somehow. They all outshone me on a sunny day; their skin sparkled like a thousand rainbows in each beam of sunlight. My skin barely had an extra glow to it in the brightest of sunshine. They could all hear better than me—the farthest away I could hear a heartbeat was a few hundred yards. My mother could hear it at least a mile away, if not more. Most of them had these really awesome gifts, like Jasper could control someone's emotions, Alice could see the future, and Daddy could _read minds_, for crying out loud. Mommy could even keep people out of her brain or let them in at will.

All I got was a stupid picture transmitting thing. And I had to touch someone's face to make it work. Life was so unfair.

Aunt Rosie picked up the blow dryer and an odd looking brush and began straightening my hair. I winced as she tugged on my thick curls. This made me frown. Why did that hurt? I could slam into a tree with enough force to crack it in half, and not feel anything even remotely close to pain. And yet something as simple as a brush was making me flinch? This was ridiculous.

I heard footsteps approaching the bathroom door. Aunt Rosie let go of the blow dryer and brush and slammed the door shut, but did it all in one fluid motion so quickly that she caught them before they ever had a chance to fall victim to gravity. Her mouth turned up into a wicked grin.

"Not yet, Bella," she said to the closed door, smirking. "You can't see the masterpiece until it's completed. It would be a crime." I heard the footsteps stomp off in the direction of the bedrooms.

Thankfully, it was over quickly. Rosie swept the front section of my hair up and away from my face, and twisted it all into a loose, fluffy bun at the back of my head. The rest she let hang down my back, and I was amazed to see it fall past my knees. She swiftly tugged a few strands loose around my face, and then spun me around to face the wall length mirror.

"There we are," she beamed, and her expression was very self satisfied. I noted that she looked a little bit like a smug poodle, with her hair all piled on top of her head the way it was. But Rosie could get away with anything. Murder looked good on her. Way to go for my favorite Auntie.

"You look absolutely gorgeous. You're gonna knock 'em all dead when you walk in that house," she continued. I flushed bright pink.

"Thanks, Aunt Rosie. I like it," I said, ducking my head.

She shook hers, looking down at me with displeasure now. She brought her finger under my chin and pulled my face up to look at her.

"Always keep your head up, Nessie. Be proud of yourself. Other girls would kill to look the way you do every day, much more the way you look right now. Don't ever let me see you feeling insecure again." She scolded. I nodded sheepishly. Like I said, there was no sense trying to explain anything to her when it came to beauty, whether mine or hers. But I loved her just the same.

"Let's go show you off to your mother, then, and mind you be proud of yourself. Don't you dare make the time I've invested in your appearance a wasted effort, now."

I hopped down off the stool lightly and went with her out the door. I kept just the slightest bit behind her as we walked down the hall; I was actually rather nervous to see Mommy.

What would she think of my hair? What would she think of how I looked overall?

I took a deep breath and held it as we turned into Mommy's doorway.

I didn't release the breath I held as I stepped around the door.

Mommy was watching the door, an expectant look on her face. When her eyes fell on me, they widened and she sucked in a breath.

I blushed crimson.

"Mommy, you're embarrassing me. Don't stare at me like that," I mumbled to the floor.

"You look beautiful," she told me. My face turned an even darker shade of red. I could feel the heat burn my cheeks.

"Of course she does," Aunt Rosie said, sounding smug. I glanced up at her quickly and saw her self satisfaction written all over her face. "Now it's your turn. Hurry, I know your hair takes twice as long even though it's only half the length of hers."

My mother got up to follow her out of the room, but not before casting her a look of utter mortification. I giggled.

When they left, I wandered over to the closet where I'd seen the pink ballet slippers tucked to the side. I slid into them and walked around a little bit, trying to get used to them. It was no use. My feet felt restricted, as though they were under bondage. I muttered and grumbled to myself as I paced the wooden floor. I would never understand why people willingly subjected themselves to squishing their toes into these restrictive casings they called shoes.

"Alice will never get me to wear heels," I swore to myself.

I went to my room and walked over to the edge of the bed, seating myself carefully and smoothing out my dress so it wouldn't get wrinkled. The sounds of the blow dryer floated to me through the door, and to pass the time, I tried to imagine what the inside of the big house would look like. What had Alice done to decorate? Knowing her, it was probably some sort of big fanfare. Lots of lights and ribbons. I wondered who she had invited. Hopefully Grandpa Charlie would be there.

I loved Grandpa Charlie. Mommy would take me to his house every other weekend, and we would have pizza—one of the few human foods I liked—and play games or read together. I loved reading out loud to him from some of my favorite novels. Sometimes we would go fishing down at the creek, and would hold competitions to see who could catch the biggest fish for the day. Once, I waded into the water and caught a fish with my bare hands, but Mommy warned me not to do that again. Grandpa Charlie had been dumbstruck, staring at me with his mouth gaping open as I stood in the water, dripping wet, a fish the size of half my body wriggling in my hands. I had been only seven months old then, although I looked as though I were five years old.

I chuckled to myself at the memory. What I wouldn't give to see Grandpa Charlie make that face again. But I knew better now. He was on a "need to know" status regarding the secrets of our family, and the less he understood of our strength or agility, the better—for both us and him.

My thoughts were interrupted by Aunt Rosie stomping into the room, muttering half-way unintelligible obscenities under her breath. She yanked open a drawer and rummaged around for one fourth of a second before pulling out a comb and swooshing back out of the door. I raised one eyebrow.

Alrighty, then.

I turned back to my thoughts. Maybe Alice had invited the wolves. She had better have. I made up my mind to throw a fit if Seth wasn't there. But of course the wolves would be invited. They were my best friends. Especially my Jakey. He and I were inseparable. We spent almost every waking hour together. He was at the big house waiting when I woke up in the morning, and I usually fell asleep on his lap at night. If I could have it my way, I would never sleep just so that we could always be together. I didn't need any brothers or sisters once I had Jacob. He went hunting with me, raced me, swam with me, what more could I ask for? Oh, right. Not needing to sleep. There was yet another advantage my family had over me— constant consciousness.

Utterly unfair.

But the sting of jealousy I felt was softened by the knowledge that Jacob slept as well.

Ha ha. I remembered the time he'd fallen asleep on the white couch and Emmett and I had plotted against him. We'd gone into the kitchen and gotten salad dressing, of which we poured some on his hand, and then Emmett had plucked a feather out of a pillow. We snuck up behind him and tickled his nose with the feather and then both disappeared at lightning speed out the door. We turned around quickly and watched through the front window as he smacked himself in the face, spreading orange paste all over, and jumped up looking around frantically. I couldn't stay quiet. I'd burst out laughing and nearly fallen off the porch. Emmett wasn't faring too much better. The window frames shook with each of his loud guffaws.

Jacob's bewildered expression turned toward the window, and his eyes narrowed into a glare as he spotted us laughing and pointing. I'd looked up and practically seen the gears turning in his head as he prepared to come after us.

"Uh oh—run!" I'd yelled to Emmett, and we'd both taken off in the direction of the forest with Jacob hot on our heels.

I came back to the present moment with a smile on my face as I heard footsteps approaching the room. My smile grew wider as expectation kicked in and I stood up to go stand in the doorway.

Mommy came down the hall, walking beside Aunt Rosie. She looked like an angel—No, a goddess—No. Even that didn't do her justice. She was absolutely gorgeous. Strikingly beautiful. I paled in comparison next to her, and my smile faded. My paltry attempt to look like her had been a stupid one. I would remember that next time.

She reached me then, and I slid my hand into hers as the three of us quietly walked out of the house and through the forest.

**A/N: There you go!! Nessie's first perspective!!! Did ya like it? Didya? Huh? Huh? *hopes fervently* Well....I'm going to be annoying, and ask for reviews again. Seriously, though, they are what keep me writing. So.....REVIEW!!! Please. *smiles sweetly***

**Reviews are better for me than Nessie telling things from her point of view for the first time ever. **

**Love, Cahryn K.**


	11. Chapter 11

**The next chapter is here; the birthday party from Renesmee's point of view. I'd like to take the time now, though, to say a special word of thanks to a reader by the name of Stacey, for giving me my first "very very long" review. I am beyond grateful...thank you so much Stacey. I really appreciate the time and effort you took to give me a thorough review, including both the things you liked about the story as well as what you felt needed some work. And I am definitely taking into consideration what you mentioned about Jacob/Renesmee, and I have made changes to the original manuscript to redirect, as you said, the whole "too early" situation. Guys, I really appreciate it when you take the time to offer input to the story regarding things that you feel need to be changed around, or mentioning things that perhaps don't dovetail too well with SM's original intent. This story is meant to be a continuation to Breaking Dawn, so I'm definitely trying to follow in her footsteps and be as true to the characters as possible. Thanks again, Stacey!! You rock!! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the original characters. The wonderful and talented Stephenie Meyer does.**

Chapter 11

The Party- by Renesmee Part 2

As we drew closer to the clearing by the big house, I could hear all sorts of shuffling and whispers coming from inside. The moment we set foot on the lawn, the front door opened, and in the frame stood a figure partially wrapped in sparkly black. The figure didn't stay there for more than a third of a second, though.

Alice dashed down the steps and flew across the lawn to us, coming to a sudden stop only when it looked as though she was going to careen right into us. She clasped her hands together in front of her as she took us in with her eyes.

"Oh, just look at you two! Bella, you are a vision from heaven. . .and Nessie!" she gushed. "Just look at you, turn around, let me see you, oh you're so perfect, Jake's going to love you…well of course you don't have to worry—"

Mommy cut her off. "Jake's here already?" she inquired. Alice nodded. Then she squealed as she ran around behind me to cover my eyes. "Oh Bella, you're gorgeous. I can't wait to see Edward's face when he sees you in that dress. He'll be thanking me for the next decade!" She spoke to me now. "You're going to love all the decorations; I modeled them after one of the bedrooms you designed when you were drawing a few weeks ago. And everybody's here, of course, no one wanted to miss your first birthday—you're growing up so fast!" I smiled. It seemed my entire party was themed after my bedroom designs. That was neat. "Okay, no peeking; we're almost there." She guided me up the front steps carefully, while my heart strummed so quickly there was no differentiation at all between the beats.

I sensed when we stepped inside the door, but what I wasn't prepared for was just how loud everyone was going to be.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" The sound of the shout shook the door frame under my feet and sent vibrations through me. I jumped slightly.

Alice uncovered my eyes and I looked around the room, blushing as I realized the amount of people present. The first person my eyes fell on was Jacob, the tallest of them all by at least a foot and the most familiar to me. Any remaining pre-party jitters I might have had disappeared at once when our eyes met. I quickly scanned the rest of the room. All the men in my family stood behind the large white sofa, and off to their left stood the women with Grandpa Charlie. Beside them was the wolf pack, and I laughed when I saw Seth waving at me like a madman. If he wasn't careful his hand just might go flying across the room any moment now. Off to my right stood my cousins; Kate, Tanya, Eleazar, and Carmen, who had come down from Denali.

My eyes flashed back to Jacob as he rushed toward me and swept me up into a bear hug.

"How's my favorite girl in the whole world doing?" he asked, a bright sunny grin on his face.

"Great," I replied, beaming in return. His woodsy smell was like a drug; it made me insanely happy anytime I breathed it in. Still in his arms, I looked over his shoulder and saw Alice glaring. Uh oh. I squirmed.

"Put me down, Jake." I said. "You're gonna mess up my dress."

Alice appeared beside me and smirked. "That's my niece," she said proudly. Then she scowled at Jacob. "You ought to know better than to mess with a Cullen girl's dress."

Jacob laughed. "So what do you think of your palace, your highness?" he asked playfully.

I grinned. "I love it. It's perfect. I'm just glad I finally get to see what all the fuss was about—Alice was driving me insane, locking me out of the house like that."

Alice pouted beside me. "You couldn't see it yet, Nessie," she said in a whiney voice. "I could hardly make it a surprise in the first place, with everyone talking nonstop about your birthday coming up, so the least I could do was keep you from seeing what it looked like until the actual day."

I smiled reassuringly at her. "Its okay, Alice. It's more than perfect. I'd never have imagined it would look this beautiful—not in my wildest dreams." Jacob grinned and tickled my neck. I ducked my chin, trapping his fingers between my collar bone and jaw.

"Why don't we go say hi to everyone?" he asked, pulling me into his side. I nodded eagerly, my anticipation leaking through although I was trying to appear calm and nonchalant.

We walked toward the crowd, where everyone was still standing, waiting patiently and politely for their turn to greet the birthday girl. I noticed something.

"Where's Billy?" I asked Jake, craning my neck to see his face instead of his armpit, as I was still tucked deep into his waist. His arm tightened around me and his face grew serious.

"Um, he. . .didn't feel so well after all. He's sorry he couldn't make it," he said, staring straight ahead. I frowned, but decided it was better not to press the issue right now. Jacob looked upset about something, and I guessed it was about Billy. Now was definitely not the time to question him. I could bombard him with my queries later.

I was passed from arm to arm, hugged, kissed, oohed and aahed over, and the whole nine yards. I had to admit, it did make me feel better about my appearance. At least they thought I looked nice.

Grandpa Charlie grabbed me up into a hug. "Hey, kiddo, happy birthday," he said, patting my head. "Rosalie got to ya, didn't she?"

I nodded. "Me and Mommy both."

"Well, you look great."

He laughed his crinkly eyed laugh and let go of me. He hadn't picked me up; over these last six months I'd grown so heavy that only my immediate—vampire—family was ever able to budge me off the ground if I didn't want to move. And the werewolves, of course.

As soon as I was free of everyone else's hands, Jacob pulled me back into his side. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and sighed as we all went into the dining room. A few moments later, Grandpa Charlie showed up, followed by a smug looking father of mine and a very embarrassed looking Mommy. I wondered what had happened for her to have that expression. Jacob looked as though he was wondering the same thing.

Grandpa Carlisle lit the candles on my cake. The cake was as big as two basketballs put together, and had white icing with pink trim. It _looked _good, now the question was would it _taste_ good—or would it just be like all the other horrid human foods—a ball of flavorless slime making its way slowly down my throat.

I blew out the candles, which were two question marks. Emmett laughed.

"How old are you now…how old are you now….." he sang. I punched him. No one knew how old I really was, because of my accelerated growth. Grandpa Carlisle didn't let a day go by where he didn't spend hours poring over the computer screen and old books, looking for some sort of clue as to the genetic reasons behind the phenomenon. Mommy didn't think there was a genetic reason. She felt it was simply supernatural, and not something to really be questioned.

I suspected the real reason was because she didn't want me to be the subject of any more of Grandpa Carlisle's experiments. I didn't mind them—that much. Most of them were boring, but a few were interesting, and even fun. It depended on what I had to do, which was usually just stretch this way or that, read bigger upon bigger books, and take something he called a standardized test. He said the human children in schools took those every year, and that he was using them to determine my psychological development. As soon as I saw something once, I knew how to do it, and as a result the constant repetition was beginning to bore me. He couldn't find new material fast enough to suit the pace I was learning at. At least it was fun when I was given something new to figure out.

Then it was time for presents.

Everyone gave me beautiful things, but the most special of all was from Grandpa Charlie and Sue. Their gift was an afghan with a wolf woven into it, and my name was stitched just below the massive shoulders of the russet wolf. It was beautiful. I planned to go to sleep with it tonight.

Tanya and Kate gave me a bath set, joking about how since I was the only member of my family who needed to take a bath, I could make myself smell extra nice for "the boys" once I "start school." Both my dad and Jacob growled at them. I couldn't help rolling my eyes and laughing. When was I going to meet a boy? And if I did, what difference would it make? It wasn't like he could ever do anything to me.

_It's a little hard to harm a girl who can take down a full grown bull elk, don't you think?_ I thought for my father's benefit. The corner of his mouth curved up into the crooked smile I'd known all my life.

Then it was Emmett and Aunt Rosie's turn. She stepped forward and turned to me.

"Nessie, angel, your Auntie Rose got you the best present of them all," she said in a sweet, sing-songy voice. It was the kind of voice used with babies, like the one she used with me when I was first born.

I watched her with anticipation. Whatever Aunt Rosie had planned, it would be good. I could see it written all over her face. I inched forward, but Jake's arm was still welded to my side.

"Does anyone here know what Nessie here has been _dying_ to have for about a month now?" she asked the crowd, looking around.

A few grumbles followed that sounded like no's. Jake didn't appear oblivious, though. He elbowed me and grinned. He knew? That wasn't fair. I racked my brain for what I had wanted recently, but came up blank. I had everything I wanted. A beautiful family, a wonderful home, and the best and furriest friends the world had to offer. I even had a pet now.

No, I couldn't think of what it could've been that I'd wanted.

Aunt Rosie opened her mouth to continue, but Emmett stepped in front of her, cutting her off. She gave him a glare that would have melted pure iron. He rubbed her arm soothingly.

Emmett had a familiar look in his eyes—one that always promised mischief. "Relax, babe," he said. "I just wanna hear something from Bella first."

Mommy turned to look at him with an expression of distrust painted on her flawless features. He turned toward her.

"Bella. . .what kind of car did Nessie say she liked?" he asked, a wicked grin stretching across his face.

Uh-oh.

"I don't know," she replied, sounding rather annoyed. "A Mozzarella Grand Toronto or something like that, I don't really remember." She ducked her head.

Loud guffaws shook the foundation of the house and Emmett doubled over laughing. Everyone else wasn't much better off. Jake had to hold his sides as a tear slipped from the corner of his eye and rolled down his russet colored cheek. A giggle escaped my lips, but I sobered up pretty quickly when I caught sight of the emotion building in her.

She straightened up and crossed her arms. I shot my father a worried look, but he was laughing just as hard as Emmett and the rest of the men and boys in the room.

Well. He might not be able to read Mommy's mind most of the time, but I could read her face like an open book. And I also knew what was coming next. The only reason Aunt Rosie would ask the question she had and be followed up by Emmett and car models. . .was. . .

"You know I don't give a crap about cars," Mommy interrupted my thoughts loudly. "Or anything else mechanical, for that matter. How would you expect me to remember a name that complicated anyway?"

_Here it comes, _I thought.

Aunt Rosie was still laughing when she answered. "I have to admit, Bella, that was worth being interrupted for. It was absolutely hilarious." She laughed a moment more. "For the record, it's a Maserati GranTurismo. And I bought one for Nessie."

I melted back further into the wall, shrinking into Jacob's side as the fury crept into my mother's face. Uncle Jasper darted to her side and gripped the tops of her arms with a force I knew would have crushed anything else besides one of us.

"Why. On. God's. Good. Earth. Would. You. Do. That.?" She asked between her teeth. "I specifically told you—all of you—that Nessie is not to be behind the operating area of any type of vehicle for at least the next _six months_."

Aunt Rosie was entirely unaffected by the very real possibility of having her head ripped off in front of all our guests. I remembered all too well when Mommy had lunged at Jake nearly a year ago, angered over something he had said. What could he possibly have done to elicit such a response from her? I wondered about that. I'd never had it explained, though I had asked at the time. I focused back in on the present moment.

"I know that, Bella," Aunt Rosie said coolly. "I didn't go against your will. The car isn't here. She won't be able to drive it until you allow her to, and all I have here is the title to the car in her name. Well, her alias, anyhow."

I saw my mother's features relax just the tiniest bit as she began to breathe again. She murmured something quickly to Jasper, but because I hadn't been listening for it, I missed what it was she said. Whatever it was, though, made him let go of her and take a step back, but I could see that he still monitored her every emotion carefully.

"Okay," she said. "So what's her alias?"

Aunt Rosie rolled her eyes and cut Mommy a glare. "You gave it to her," she said, an edge of annoyance in her voice now. "Vanessa Wolfe."

Mommy looked embarrassed. "Oh," she said awkwardly, and I saw that all the anger was gone. Aunt Rosie smiled and turned to me. I hadn't realized I had been inching forward these last few moments, but the distance was much shorter than I'd expected as I dashed forward and jumped into her arms.

"Oh yay! Thank you so much Aunt Rosie! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I cried.

She laughed and kissed the top of my head. "You're welcome, Ness," she said, giving me a squeeze.

Daddy stepped forward. "I believe it's time for our gift." He gathered me up in his arms.

"Cover your eyes," he said, and then paused. "No, Alice, it's only fair that I'm allowed to do the honors for this one."

Alice pouted. Mommy shot him a questioning look, and he chuckled quietly. "Alice wanted to be able to cover her eyes," he told her.

I threw my hands over my eyes as I felt us glide away from where we stood. Anticipation and excitement filled my stomach with butterflies, and I couldn't stop giggling the entire way. I made an attempt to figure out where we were going, but after the first step, the ride was so smooth if it hadn't been for the cool air rushing over my skin I would never have guessed we were in motion.

About four or five seconds later he set me gently on my feet.

"Can I open my eyes now?" I asked tensely. It took all my willpower to keep from bouncing up and down on my heels. I heard soft footsteps come up beside me, and smelled the familiar, lovely scent of freesia that was unmistakably my mother.

"Not yet," Daddy said. "This gift is from your mother and I, and we want you to take good care of it and use it well. Practice every day, and soon it will pay off."

Practice?

"Probably knows how to use the thing already, little braniac that she is," Emmett muttered from behind me.

_What were they talking about?_ I would explode if I didn't get an answer within the next three seconds, I was certain of it.

I heard Daddy chuckle as he heard my impatience in my thoughts.

"Open your eyes now," Mommy's soft voice told me.

I jerked my hands away from my eyes and scanned the room. We were in the back room, the one that Emmett and Jasper used to play video games. They didn't allow my Daddy to play against them; claiming he cheated because he knew which moves they would use next. It was the same in wrestling and chess.

In the middle of the room, the television had been moved, and in its place stood a white baby grand piano. On the side was painted with a flourish _Renesmee C. Cullen_. The piano bench was white and cushioned, with knobs for feet and silver lining around the stitching on the edges.

My hands flew up to cover my mouth as I stood there speechless for a long moment. It was magnificent.

I slowly walked up to it and ran my hand along the smooth, shiny cover.

"It was your mother's idea," Daddy said.

I couldn't open my mouth. I was in such awe, such wonder—I was so enraptured by the perfect beauty of the gift that all I could do was think. And my brain raced away at a million miles a minute.

_It's perfect, so perfect,_ I thought. _The color, my name. . .I couldn't have wished for more. _

My thoughts grew more earnest as my gratitude deepened. What was it Daddy had said? It was my mother's idea?

_Thank you so much, Mommy, _I thought in earnest as I pictured her standing there behind me.

"You're welcome," she said quietly. My head snapped up. Oh dear, I hadn't even said a word of thanks aloud; I'd just stared at the piano as though I were a mute. How rude of me. And now she'd had to remind me in front of everyone by saying "You're welcome," before I'd even said anything. Where were my manners? I blushed fiercely.

"Thank you Mommy," I said quickly. "I'm sorry I didn't say it before."

She looked at me strangely. "Yes, you did," she said. "That's why I said you're welcome." She glanced over at my dad meaningfully.

He was staring at her, his eyes wide and frozen with some strange expression that strongly resembled shock.

Okay. . .this was getting weird.

Apparently Mommy thought so, too.

"What?" She asked, growing uncomfortable. I turned to look at everyone else. They all had expressions ranging from confused to stunned. Interestingly, the vampires all had stunned looks, and everyone else besides Jacob and Seth looked entirely perplexed by their little exchange.

"You heard that?" Daddy asked incredulously.

"Um, yeah… she said it loud and clear," Mommy replied, fidgeting with the edge of her dress. Well. No, I hadn't, but it didn't make any sense to me, so I dismissed the thought for later. I'd wreck my brain over it when everyone had left.

"No, she—," Daddy began. He thought for a moment, but then appeared to change his mind about what he had been planning to say. "It's just that she said it very quietly. Let's see what Jacob has for her. Jacob?" he called. "I believe it is your turn now."

I had eyes only for my wolf.

Jacob walked forward slowly, a huge smile stretching his face from ear to ear. He held one hand behind his back as he approached me. Ever so slowly, he knelt down in front of me until his eyes were level with mine.

"Close your eyes," he instructed.

I squeezed my eyes shut as tightly as they would go and hopped from foot to foot.

"Now hold out your hand," he continued. I shoved my left hand out at him, palm up and flat. I felt him grip my hand to steady it and a soft paper brushed the inside of my hand.

"Open them?" I asked.

"NO!" he said in a harsh whisper. I frowned. "Not yet." His voice was softer this time, but had a hint of mischief in it.

"Aww," I whined. I held still and waited for whatever might come next. But I hadn't been expecting to feel him come nearer to me. I heard someone's teeth snap together in annoyance. Suddenly, a pair of wet, sloppy lips smushed themselves against my cheek and I jumped back in surprise, wiping frantically at my face with my free hand.

"Ewwwwww! Gross, Jake!" I cried, laughing. I heard his deep laugh in front of my face and then off to the side. Was he falling over with laughter? The nerve! I'd get him back for that.

His laugh appeared to be directly in front of me again, and his voice trembled a little as he tried to contain the last few chuckles. "Happy Birthday, Nessie," he said. "You can open your eyes now."

I wasted no time in obeying. My eyes fell on the green package in my hands, and I quickly tore the ribbon off and held it in my teeth as I shredded the rest of the paper. There was something brown and partially round inside.

I pulled away the last bit of paper and found the most beautiful dream catcher I had ever laid eyes on. I had seen these when I visited Jacob and Seth on the reservation; they hung in his room by his bed and one was even above the door in his house. Of course I hadn't had an easy time getting over there; my father still made a fuss about Jacob and I being best friends, but Mommy had sent him on a round of guilt trips until he finally allowed me. Even then, he insisted on escorting Jake and I to the treaty borderline, and was always there waiting for me when it was time to return home.

I looked now at the dream catcher I held in my hands. The wood was the exact same color as Jake's skin, and had tiny wolf paw prints engraved in it. Long eagle feathers hung from the base of the leather straps at the side, which were beaded.

"Wow, Jake, it's beautiful," I whispered. "Did you make it?"

He nodded. I fingered the net inside the circular portion of the catcher and then looked up to meet his eyes.

I was suddenly overcome by emotion. What had I ever done to deserve such a great family and such a wonderful, loyal best friend? _Thank you. . .thank you, thank you, thank you,_ I breathed silently as I threw my arms around his neck. He stiffened for a moment.

"Thank you, Jakey," I said into his shoulder. He relaxed and rubbed my back.

"You're welcome."

"My turn!" Seth sang suddenly, bouncing across the room and grabbing my hand. "Come on, its outside. We'll show you, 'cuz it's from all of us La Push boys."

He pulled me towards the door.

"Do I have to close my eyes again?" I inquired.

"Nope," Seth replied cheerfully. "It's hidden around the corner of the house anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

"Yes!" I whispered under my breath. There was a collective chuckle from those behind me.

We had stepped outside and as we rounded the corner of the house, I stopped short. My hands flew to my mouth and, much to my embarrassment, something came out that sounded much like the squeak of a chipmunk. But I was in both shock and awe.

A gigantic wooden structure stood in front of me, built onto the corner of the house. Bars crisscrossed back and forth the entire way up, and inside, more branches stuck out as perches. On one of these perches sat my new little pet, Hyacinth. I smiled at her.

"Hyacinth. Hello there, missy. Are you hungry?" I asked. She cheeped in response and tilted her small brown head to the side. I bent down and plucked a blade of grass.

Straightening up, I pushed it through the bars to her and she snatched it from me, flying back to the opposite end of the cage and landing there. She looked down at me from her perch, scolding me noisily in cheeps and chitters. I laughed. It was all so wonderful.

I turned to Seth and bounced into his arms, hugging him with all my might. It was a good thing he was a werewolf or that might have been a very dangerous idea. I hugged Quil next, and then Embry, before picking up Claire and spinning her around. She giggled and wrapped her arms around my leg when I put her down again.

I turned to everyone standing behind me. They were all watching me, their eyes full of love.

"Thanks so much, everybody," I said, beaming. "It was wonderful. I loved it, and my presents are so sweet. Thank you, everyone."

"And now," Jacob announced, "It's time for CAKE!" Aunt Rosie gave him a look that told everyone she didn't approve of him dictating the party program. In fact, it said something more along the lines that she strongly disapproved. He rolled his eyes.

"Give it a rest, Blondie," he muttered under his breath. I giggled.

We filed back into the dining room and I took my place at the head of the table with Jake by my side. Grandma Esme handed me a knife, and Alice stood in front of me, digital camera ready. Emmett was already filming with the camcorder. I blushed.

"Ready?" asked Grandpa Carlisle. I nodded. As if on cue, all the voices in the house rose together in song.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Nessie, happy birthday to you!" I grinned from ear to ear as I sank the heavy knife into the soft chocolate cake. I noticed Jake watching me with more interest than was really necessary. No, he wasn't watching me, I noticed. I had to laugh. His eyes were fixed on the cake.

"Stupid mutt looks like he wants to eat the cake before it's even cut," Aunt Rosie muttered under her breath. Jacob turned to glare at her.

I took advantage of the distraction, and in one swift movement I swiped a bit of vanilla frosting on my finger and smeared it across his cheek and on his nose. He looked genuinely startled.

Take that, Mister Wet Sloppy Kisser.

"Hey!" He laughed and wiped his face with his hand, dramatically licking his fingers off one by one. I laughed until my stomach hurt when I saw the look Aunt Rosie was giving him for doing that. He waggled his fingers in her direction.

"Want some, Blondie?" he asked suggestively. She made a gagging sound and turned away from him.

"Not if I was on the brink of death, would I ever accept anything from you, mongrel," she sneered.

"Too bad the feeling's not mutual," he replied tartly. "Cause you make a mean doggie dish whenever Esme cooks steak."

Aunt Rosie hissed, looking as though she wanted to tear his throat out. My amusement quickly turned to worry. I knew she had a fiery temper.

_No, no no no no no. It's not worth it, please don't ruin my party, _I begged internally. She froze, and slowly turned to look at me. Her eyes softened as the angry glint faded, and she offered me a smile. Then she turned back to Jacob. "You're lucky to have someone who actually cares for you sticking up for you, dog." She huffed and turned away again, sashaying over to where Alice and Esme stood and making conversation with them.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, and I was more than pleased to discover I had a new favorite food. Chocolate cake. It was one of the best things I had ever tasted. Grandma Esme didn't try to hide her pleasure at my response to the cake. She beamed from ear to ear the entire party, and if it was possible, she glowed even more when I went back for my second and third slices. I decided I could eat chocolate cake for the rest of my life and never grow tired of it. Of course, I'd need a delicious dose of blood every now and again in between to balance out the flavors. But I had definitely discovered a treat.

We played games afterward, and Pin the Tail on the Donkey was my favorite. Oddly enough, Claire won every time. Quil could scarcely contain himself each time she beat Embry. Apparently they had a bet going. I enjoyed all the games immensely and Jacob never left my side. Somewhere in the middle of a game of Pictionary, my eyes began to grow heavy and I felt the images I was sending Jake start to fuzz around the edges and slip out of my grasp. My hand slipped off his face, where it had been pressed to his cheek for the last five rounds, and I felt my head droop onto his shoulder as I dropped off into a blissful slumber. Images of pianos, dream catchers, a little dark haired girl with a blindfold on, and taking myself another slice of chocolate cake flickered through my mind in colorful slides.

The last thing I heard before I drifted off was the sounds of my family's laughter, reverberating off the walls of my mind and echoing deep in my heart.

**A/N: There you go!! The next chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to get it up; I would have had it posted maybe three days ago, but was having some sort of weird complications, and I kept getting an error message saying it couldn't convert my file. But hey, its up now. So hah! *sticks tongue out at malfunctioning technology***

**I hope you all enjoyed it!! Please review and let me know what you think!!!**

**Love, Cahryn K.**


	12. Chapter 12

**And hello again, everyone!! Nice to see you again so soon!! This may be the quickest I've ever updated. Or....at least in a while. Sooo, a little surprise. We're going back to Bella's POV for a chapter! :-) Cool, huh? I think so too. Well, to give you fair warning, this chapter is very short. It originally was part of another chapter, but I didn't want to mix Bella and Nessie's POVs in the same chap. So hence the extra short one. Sorry. The next one should be longer. This one explains what happened at the party. Get ready!!!!**

**Disclaimer: Edward and Bella don't belong to me, but here's a spoiler... Jai Chayton does. (You won't know who that is for quite some time, though...)**

Chapter 12

BELLA

The guests had left and Renesmee was sleeping soundly in the cottage. I now followed Edward back to the house.

"What is it?" I asked for the third time.

"You need to be patient, Bella," he chided me gently. "It's best if everyone is together for this."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms as I stalked along beside him. He smiled down at me and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand, but his eyes were thoughtful.

We crept along at a snail's pace.

"Why are we walking and not running?" I asked, making an effort to keep my voice steady as the frustration began to build up.

"To give me more time to think," he replied matter-of-factly. I snorted. His unusual actions coupled with his calm replies were beginning to really irritate me.

He had calmly and politely dismissed our guests around ten thirty, and then taken Nessie back to the cottage. I'd known something was up when he'd asked Jacob to stay back and wait for us. Now he'd insisted that we leave Nessie at the cottage alone and go back to the house to talk to Carlisle. When I'd protested against leaving her by herself, he'd carefully reminded me of his extra faculties—the mind reading. It would let him hear if anything went wrong. I'd grudgingly agreed.

Now we were headed back to the white house for what sounded like it was going to be an important conversation, and he refused to tell me more than that everyone needed to be present. I gritted my teeth and walked slightly ahead of him, but he reached out and caught my hand.

"Patience, Bella. I really do need the time to think."

****************************************

We reached the house—finally—and walked up the steps and into the front room. My mouth fell slightly open as I took in my surroundings. It would never cease to amaze me how Alice worked. The house was spotless. It would have been impossible to tell there had been a party here just a half an hour ago. I looked over to where she sat on her usual perch at the base of the stairs and she smiled sheepishly.

"Well, Edward here felt the need to drive everyone insane with the wait, so I had to do something to keep myself busy," she threw a glare in Edward's direction. Jasper looked down at her and stroked the top of her head before resting his cheek on it. She relaxed into him, but kept her eyes narrowed at Edward.

Carlisle looked at Edward meaningfully and he nodded.

"We need to discuss a few things," he started.

"You bet we do," Rosalie snapped. Edward ignored her and turned to Carlisle.

"I know everyone was a bit confused at the party today, and it was all for good reason. But I've been thinking, and I've come to a rather tentative conclusion." He paused, and I looked around the room for something to throw at him. I stopped when my eyes fell on Jasper—he was watching me carefully. I sighed and leaned back into the chair I sat on, not for comfort, because I didn't need to relax thanks to my never ending supply of energy, but out of habit. Edward continued after looking each of us in the eye.

"Carlisle and I have been discussing Renesmee's growth pattern and monitoring her carefully over the past few months. We have noticed that her growth has slowed and become somewhat predictable now, but," and now he directed his gaze toward Carlisle, "what we did not take into account was the idea that her gift might increase in strength along with her development."

I felt my own eyes widen as I watched Carlisle nod slowly. Esme gasped and Alice clapped.

"How exciting!" Alice cried. "But now it all makes sense. Why didn't I understand that before?"

Edward looked at her sharply. "Why didn't you tell me this, Alice?" he asked, a hint of irritation in his velvety voice.

"I wasn't sure what it meant, so I figured I might as well not worry you with it until I understood what was going on," she replied, unabashed.

Edward sighed and opened his mouth to say something, but Emmett cut him off.

"Would somebody please tell those of us who are _not _freaks what the great secret is?" he said exasperatedly.

"Right. . .you're so normal, bloodsucker," Jacob, who had been quiet until now, muttered under his breath with a half smirk.

"Fairy-tale werewolf," I retorted in Emmett's defense. He grinned at me. Jacob rolled his eyes and winked at me.

Edward took a breath and glanced at Alice. "Explain to them what you saw," he said.

Alice's eyes grew far away and remote as she brought her vision back into focus. She stared at a spot on the far wall as she began to speak. "I saw. . .Nessie. . .in a meadow, concentrating on something, and I heard her saying something to me, but her lips weren't moving. . .but it always flickers and then goes dark before I can catch what she's saying or see where the meadow is. . .or whether anyone else is around. There seem to be other shapes there, but I'm not sure." Her eyes came back into focus and she looked at me. "Nessie doesn't need to touch people anymore for them to hear her thoughts."

I felt my jaw go slack as I tried to comprehend this. Renesmee didn't need to touch my face for me to see her thoughts? A part of me shrank away from that with a feeling of loss tugging at my chest; it was the loss of a warm contact that had, up until now, been a daily routine between us. She would place her hot little hand on my cheek, and show me everything that she had done in the day. Now that would no longer be necessary. Would it lessen the bond that we had?

But when I thought about it, it did match up with the day's events. I had heard her thank me for the gift when she hadn't opened her mouth yet. . .and _that was what Edward had been talking to Carlisle about!_ He hadn't been trying to keep our powers a secret from Charlie, rather Carlisle had already figured it out and been asking Edward whether Nessie was transmitting her thoughts to us without speaking or touching us. Hmph. I could be so dense sometimes.

Rosalie's head snapped up. She had been staring at her fingernails for most of this conversation, but now her face lit up as she looked at Edward.

"I heard her too," she said. "She asked me not to ruin her party by ripping the mongrel's head off."

Jacob growled and she rolled her eyes.

"Very interesting," Edward mused. "Jacob, you heard Nessie as well, didn't you?" he asked.

"Sure did," Jacob replied with a grin. "It was awesome."

"Well, of course we can't be entirely sure of how this will all play out, so we'll have to wait until she wakes up to explain this to her and test it out." Edward sighed. "This is definitely an interesting twist."

"Interesting twist my foot," I replied.

"Excuse me?" Edward said.

"Nessie starts projecting her thoughts and suddenly everyone can hear her and you call it an interesting twist? This could be dangerous. What if she projects her thoughts somewhere they shouldn't go? What if she causes a human to find out that a family of vampires live in the woods down the road?" My mind began to flood with worrisome thoughts like these, and had my heart still been able to beat, it would have been racing by now.

Edward frowned. "I hadn't thought of that."

Carlisle spoke up. "We'll have to warn her to be very careful, of course. But with the proper precautions, everything will work out for the best, I'm sure."

Emmett laughed a booming laugh. "So the little crossbreed can talk to me from a mile away. It doesn't get much cooler than that, huh?"

Rosalie looked at him. "We don't know how far it can reach yet, Em." She said.

Carlisle stood up. "Well, since there's nothing more that can be done about this tonight, why don't we all give ourselves some time to think. Jacob, you must be exhausted. You're welcome to stay the night if you wish, we certainly wouldn't mind making accommodations for you. As for the rest of us, I'll be heading up to my office to do some reading, and I know Emmett and Jasper have some work to finish up. You all know where to find me if you need me."

"Uh, thanks, but I think I'd rather go back to the rez," Jacob said uneasily. I knew his nose wasn't entirely desensitized to our smell, and unless it was an emergency, he wouldn't be caught dead spending the night in what he called the vampire's crypt. I thanked heaven there were no more emergencies; I had had enough drama to last me for all eternity.

Everyone seemed grateful for the dismissal, and we all drifted apart to our various pastimes. Alice challenged Edward to a chess marathon, and I settled down to watch them as they set up the board—which only took one fourth of a second—and started the first game. It left me to my own thoughts and worries, and afforded me a chuckle every now and then. It was in this way that I passed the long, interminable night, wondering again and again how Nessie would react when we told her, and also, whether she already knew of her expanded powers. Would she be able to control her thoughts? Or would this new development send us down a path we didn't want to take? I certainly hoped for the best.

**A/N: Okay....one word people. It's called FORESHADOWING!!!! Can I have your suggestions on what you think will come of this new development??? Who knows...you may be right. Or...even if you're not, it may give me an idea to use later on in the story. But I won't tell you who was right from who was wrong in their guesses..I'll just tell you how many people were either close or right on target!! **

**Love, Cahryn**


	13. Chapter 13

**And here's the next chapter, dear ones!!! We're back to Renesmee's point of view for this one. The Bella thing in the middle was just temporary--this is Nessie's story, after all. Thanks to ChristinaJosephine and LittlePrincess7975 for giving me their input on what they thought would happen...well...one was right, somewhat...and one wasn't so right! Although that would have been a great idea ChristinaJosephine!! By the way, remember she actually did project her thoughts at the party without even realizing it. Next point. I know that in Breaking Dawn when Bella was watching Nessie grow up, everything was new and amazing to her, because everything seemed to come so naturally to Ness. But looking at it from the inside, Nessie is really just like any other young girl--okay, so she's not. But although she is exceptionally advanced and very perceptive, she still feels awkward and confused at times, especially now that she's maturing more and beginning to see that the world can be a very complicated place. I tried to read between the lines and take a lot of notice of how Nessie reacted to things in BD, and this is how I see her. Now, this was a long rant, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm doing my best to be true to who Renesmee really is, even though some of you don't want to see her as insecure. But remember, there are many layers to a person's personality, and in BD, she _was_ concerned about her appearance compared to the rest of her family's. Enough of my blabbering now--if you were even reading this and didn't skip ahead to the chapter. Here's Nessie!!**

**Disclaimer: Twilight and it's characters don't belong to me, but never fear...a new chapter is here!!**

Chapter 13

RENESMEE

I woke up while the sun was still not entirely over the horizon and rolled over in bed. The house was quiet. I stretched and sat up, noticing as I looked down that someone had changed me into my favorite light green pajamas. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and silently walked out into the hall. I held my breath and listened. No sounds of breathing came from anywhere in the house. Of course I couldn't expect to hear a heartbeat—the only sound of that was my own thrumming in my ears as I held my breath.

But not a whisper otherwise.

Was I alone?

This was odd. I was never alone. . . in fact I hadn't been alone since I was born. The first few days of my life I had been passed from one set of arms to another, while Jake and Auntie Rose clamored over whose turn it was to hold me next. I remembered it as clearly as if it was yesterday. I padded further out into the hall and stopped at the door to my parents bedroom.

Silence.

Had something happened?

I felt my heart speed up as a familiar emotion bubbled up inside of me: worry. I hadn't been worried since the Volturi came nearly a year ago with the intent of destroying my family.

Oh no.

What if they had come while I slept and attacked my family? Would they have been able to quickly and silently obliterate the most important people in my life while I slept soundly away? But Aro had promised me he meant my family no harm that day—hadn't he? What if he had lied? Could they have acquired a new vampire with a gift so threatening that it would wipe out my family without a sound?

My brain began to race in frantic circles as it invented new questions before I could even begin to think of answers to the first ones. This wouldn't do. If there was anyone out there, I couldn't be all panicky and expect to put up any sort of a fight. I took a deep breath and forced my breathing into a steady rhythm. It helped my heart a little bit. I ran over in my mind the ways I had seen my family practice fighting before the Volturi had arrived. My eyes had seen the moves perfectly, lightning quick though they were, and I was fairly sure I would be able to replicate them. . .

A faint sound at the door caused me to jump. I was in my hunting crouch in a flash, teeth bared as I mentally fast-forwarded through everything I had seen that even remotely resembled an attack. Offense is the best defense, wasn't that what Jake had said to me when we were wrestling?

I tensed to spring at the first sight I would see of anything, even a shadow. I could feel the venom beginning to flood my mouth, but I knew it wouldn't do any good—it wasn't potent.

Sometimes I really hated being half human, and this was definitely one of those times.

Suddenly I caught a whiff of something unmistakably familiar. I would know that scent anywhere. It had wrapped around me before I was even fully conscious—before I had even been born.

Freesia.

"Mommy!" I cried, straightening up out of my crouch and throwing myself at her before the door had gotten a chance to fully open.

She looked a little taken aback at first; shocked, but then she caught me with open arms and hugged me tightly. I pressed my palm against her icy cold cheek and replayed for her the last few seconds, complete with emotions. I watched her forehead wrinkle in concern, and I saw my Dad grimace after a quick look of remorse flashed across his face.

Mommy turned to him. "You're not always right, Edward."

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Nessie," he told me and cupped my cheek in his hand. "We had a discussion at the house last night, and thought it was best to let you sleep, since you'd had such a long day."

I laid my head on Mommy's shoulder and watched him between my eyelashes. He reached out a hand and stroked my cheek. Then he leaned back and smiled.

"Come on. You must be hungry. Let's go back to the house and get you some breakfast, then we need to have a talk."

I nodded and jumped down from Mommy's arms, landing softly on the floor.

"Did anyone feed Hyacinth yet?" I asked. She nodded, but Daddy answered.

"Jacob did," he said coolly.

We reached the house and I smelled a warm, sweet aroma that I had never smelled before.

It was rather pleasant.

"What is that?" I asked Daddy.

He smiled down at me. "Esme is taking another shot at human food for you. It's called pancakes."

"It smells good," I offered.

He stroked my head and went to help Esme share it out in the kitchen.

I sat down at the dining room table and couldn't help the grin that spread over my face when Jacob walked in through the back door.

"Hey, Ness!" His grin matched mine as he strode over to me and placed a big hand on top of my head, mussing up my hair.

"Morning, Jakey," I replied, trying in vain to duck out from under his hand that was still tangling my curls. "Hey, quit it—it looks crazy enough already," I giggled.

"Laughing, are you? Did I say you could laugh?" He asked, a mischievous glint twinkling in his eye. "I'll give you something to laugh about," he threatened, and I collapsed in a fit of giggles and squeals as I tried to squirm away from his merciless tickles.

We ended up on the floor with me shrieking for mercy when the kitchen door swung open and Daddy stepped through, carrying a tray with a stack of round, brown things on it and a small red fruit on top of the pile. Those must be the pancakes.

Jacob straightened up and helped me off the floor when he saw the tray in my Daddy's hands. I sniffed the air, noticing the now intensified sweet aroma and adjusted the shoulder strap of my pajamas that had gotten twisted. Taking a seat in the chair I'd been in earlier, I eyed the plate that was now in front of me speculatively.

"Pancakes, you said?"

Daddy and Jacob nodded in unison.

"Come on, give it a try. I bet I could eat more than you can," Jacob challenged me. I snorted.

"I bet you couldn't, but that's provided I eat any at all."

"Shh," Daddy whispered. "We don't want Esme to hear that."

Of course she probably already had. I kicked myself mentally for not having considered her before I let those words out of my mouth. Now I was obliged to eat them.

I took a deep breath and scooped up a bite on a fork, shoving it into my mouth quickly. They were all watching my expression as though it contained the key to a secret chamber filled with treasure. Not that we needed it. Alice's ability to predict trends in the stock market had assured that we would be well off long before I was even thought of.

Although, from what I understood, I hadn't been thought of before I showed up. Mommy and Daddy's little surprise wedding present.

The pancakes didn't taste half bad, I thought to myself. As a matter of fact, I rather liked them. I scooped up another forkful and stuffed it into my mouth quicker than the first.

Jacob grinned widely and my father had a very satisfied smile on his face.

"Hurry and finish eating those," my father said, "I'm going to call another family meeting as soon as you're done. We have a few things we need to discuss with you regarding what we spoke about last night while you slept."

Way to make me lose my appetite.

The pancakes suddenly no longer tasted good. My stomach churned as I began to worry that some of the fears I'd had this morning might prove to be substantial.

Daddy sensed my discomfort. "No, Nessie, there's nothing to be worried about," he assured me.

Just the same, I didn't really feel like eating any more. I took two more forkfuls to appease Esme and then pushed the plate away from me.

"Go ahead. Call the meeting now," I told him. He raised an eyebrow at me but otherwise made no move to argue. He stood up and called the others, but didn't raise his voice any.

It wasn't necessary, with all the superb hearing in the house.

Jacob pulled out a chair next to me and sat down. I gratefully leaned over and snuggled into his spacious, overheated chest, inhaling his woodsy scent. I felt better at once.

Alice danced into the room with a smile on her face that quickly faded when her eyes fell on me.

"Nessie," she demanded. "What are you doing here in your night clothes?"

I looked down at myself. Sure enough, I was wrapped in my comfiest green pjs, and I had no intention of changing. Alice saw the resolve form on my face and sighed as she sank into a seat, rubbing the sides of her head. I imagined that she was still frustrated about not being able to see me. . .No, Jake was here. She couldn't see anything at all. I giggled and my dad looked over at me with a crooked smile.

The others slowly filed in, Grandpa Carlisle taking a seat at the head of the table and Esme sitting to his right. Aunt Rosie sat as far away from Jake as possible, wrinkling her nose. Jasper stood against the wall while Mommy came and took a seat next to me, and

Emmett plunked himself down beside her. The chair groaned in protest. Daddy remained standing, just to the left of Grandpa Carlisle.

"So, how's my favorite freak today?" asked Emmett, a grin the size of the western horizon covering his face. I rolled my eyes at him for effect.

"Just fine," I replied.

"You look nervous," he noted. "Don't worry. Anything the big, scary man throws at'cha your uncle Em can handle it."

Daddy gave Emmett a jokingly threatening look.

"Down to business, Em. We don't have time to waste," he said, though he was smiling.

"Maybe you don't," Emmett replied cheerfully, "But I've got all eternity. So bring on the waste." He chortled and Aunt Rosie reached across the table to slap his arm. Emmett grinned even wider.

"See all the extra attention I get when I misbehave?" he asked, winking at Jacob. Jake grinned in reply.

"Alright," Grandpa Carlisle said. "There's been an interesting development lately."

The entire table hushed instantly.

Daddy threw a grateful glance in Grandpa Carlisle's direction and continued where he had left off. He spoke to me.

"Nessie, you already know you have a gift of allowing others to see your thoughts." He paused. "But based on some events that took place at your birthday party yesterday, we have reason to believe—"

"Sounds like the poor kid's on trial," Emmett muttered under his breath. A glare leveled in his direction bounced off him with no effect. "Just sayin'."

"That your powers have expanded," Daddy finished.

I sat there for a moment, and he didn't continue, understanding that I needed a moment. I understood instantly what he was saying, that I was able now to. . .to. . .

"Project," Daddy supplied the word I had been searching for. I felt frustration bubble up inside of me, but quelled it quickly in the interest of finishing my thought. I was able to project my thoughts across a distance to a person of my choice. . .which meant. . .that I was growing _stronger. _I was vaguely aware of everyone around me watching me intently as they anticipated my reaction. A new realization dawned on me. I no longer had to be the weakest of my family. . .feel left out when they used their fancy gifts. . .feel mediocre when their strengths outweighed mine. . .because I had a gift that topped it all. . .YES!

"Cool," I finally said. Rather anticlimactic, I noted.

Emmett guffawed loudly. "She thinks for ten years and then all she says is 'cool'? If I wasn't a vampire I'd have gray hair by now!"

"_Emmett,_" I complained. It didn't matter if I'd just been thinking the same thing to myself. It was still annoying when he pointed it out.

"What's up, munchkin?" he replied.

I picked up a napkin holder and launched it across the table at him. He ducked out of the way and the intricately curved wire frame smashed into the wall with a loud metallic clink and was flattened out of shape before it clattered noisily to the floor.

"Renesmee," my mother scolded. I looked at her quickly.

"Sorry. But he was bothering me," I whined.

Daddy looked down at me and grinned. "Maybe if we work on this new talent of yours you won't need to throw physical objects at the source of your frustration anymore," he suggested with a wink.

"Hey," Emmett protested. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side!"

"Every man for himself," Daddy replied smoothly.

"Or girl," I added in for him.

"Or girl," Daddy agreed.

"Well, let's get to practicing. What exactly are we waiting for?" Jacob spoke up.

"Good question," Rosalie said. "I hate to agree with the dog, but we should get to practicing right away. I can't wait to see how my Nessie manages to use her gift."

Jacob glared at her from under his eyebrows, but she ignored him.

"Ness?" Jacob looked over at me.

I was a little wary, but the thrill quickly won out over the nervous side. "Let's get to it!"

**********************************

I stood in the center of the clearing, my heart thudding in my chest.

The brief high I had felt at the table had evaporated as soon as Jasper left the room, leaving me to feel the full weight of the task that lay ahead all alone. Jacob would have stayed with me, but I'd had to brush my teeth and so was forced to excuse myself. I didn't exactly need an audience to the other things that needed to be done in the bathroom.

And so I'd had plenty of alone time to work myself into a frenzy.

What if I couldn't project my thoughts at all? What if they had made a mistake. . .What if this had all been a freak accident? I'd chuckled darkly to myself. Of course the freak would have a freak accident. Leave it to me to fall into a situation like that.

But now I stood in the clearing, surrounded by my family—although one could argue that I wasn't exactly surrounded; they were each a few hundred yards away from me—and they were waiting for me to make something happen.

Aunt Rosie called to me, bringing my attention down to earth. "Nessie, honey, go ahead.

We're waiting," she said in a sugary voice.

Waiting for what? Now that I actually thought about it, I didn't know what to do.

"I. . .I don't know how," I faltered.

"Just do whatever you were doing at the party," Emmett suggested. Right. That was real helpful.

"I don't know what I did," I said stupidly.

"How about you try thinking back to the moment when I heard you," Mommy offered from across the field. "What were you doing then—anything special or out of the ordinary?"

"Try to remember what you were thinking about," Grandpa Carlisle said.

I closed my eyes and concentrated, bringing back the scene from the night before.

I had been standing in front of the piano my parents had given me, admiring the smoothness of the white finish, the elegance of the keys. Now as I called it back to my memory, I could see everything as though it were happening right in front of me again.

"_It was your mother's idea," Daddy said._

_I couldn't open my mouth. I was in such awe, such wonder—I was so enraptured by the perfect beauty of the gift that all I could do was think. And my brain raced away at a million miles a minute. _

_It's perfect, so perfect, I thought. The color, my name. . .I couldn't have wished for more. My thoughts grew more earnest as my gratitude deepened. What was it Daddy had said? It was my mother's idea? _

_Thank you so much, Mommy, I thought in earnest as I pictured her standing there behind me. _

"_You're welcome," she said quietly. My head snapped up. Oh dear, I hadn't even said a word of thanks aloud; I'd just stared at the piano as though I were a mute._

That was it. That had to be it. All I had done was to think of her.

Keeping my eyes closed, I focused on that moment, concentrating on it ridiculously hard. I pictured my mother standing behind me in the back room of the house, and listened, anticipating the moment when she would answer me before I had spoken aloud. _Focus. _

Two minutes went by. I opened my eyes.

"Anything?" I asked.

"Nope," she replied. Hmm. What was I doing wrong?

I closed my eyes again and replayed a different scene in my head. This time I thought of when Jacob and Aunt Rosie were arguing during the cake cutting. But I decided to try something extra. I stared very hard at the Aunt Rosie inside my mind, replaying what I had said to her again and again, like a mantra.

_Aunt Rosie hissed, looking as though she wanted to tear his throat out. My amusement quickly turned to worry. I knew she had a fiery temper._

_No, no no no no no. It's not worth it, please don't ruin my party, I begged internally. She froze, and slowly turned to look at me. Her eyes softened as the angry glint faded, and she offered me a smile._

Across the field, Aunt Rosie gasped.

"What? What? Did you hear her? Did it work? Did she do it?" Everyone's voices melted together as my entire family started speaking at once. Their eyes darted back and forth between her and me.

"I. . .I didn't just hear her," Aunt Rosie said, looking stunned. "I saw everything, too. She played back the entire scene from the party, and I saw it as plainly as if I had been standing there, just like she does when she touches us." Her voice trailed off in awe.

Everyone was silent for a moment, and then Emmett burst out in a loud shout.

"Whooo! Alright, me next! Gimme your best shot," he challenged. I couldn't help chuckling to myself, but I obliged, squeezing my eyes tightly shut a third time.

I decided to take a different approach. An idea had occurred to me, and I was curious to see if it would work. Rather than recall a memory, I opted to see if I could project new thoughts too. It ought to work; I did it all the time when I touched people. But it might not be as easy if I were sending the thoughts out farther. New ideas weren't nearly as concrete as memories.

I pictured myself stalking Emmett from behind and surprising him with a tackle, knocking him to the ground. I focused as hard as I could on my imaginary Emmett, willing him to hear me snarl as I pounced.

A loud laugh boomed across the field. "Oh you're on," Emmett laughed. I grinned at him in satisfaction.

His excitement seemed to flow through the others standing with us, and Jacob was next.

"Okay, my turn," he crowed. "And make it good." I laughed at the enormous grin that stretched his face and settled into envisioning a thought for him.

* * * * *

Over the next few months, we practiced like that every day. I had progressed to the point where I was able to stay at the house and the others could hear me when they were out hunting. It had been difficult at a few points along the way—the farther out I tried to project—and I had gotten several headaches as a result of trying too hard for too long in one day. But I found it got easier as time went on.

I sat now at my desk, in my bedroom in the cottage. I tucked a stray curl behind my ear absentmindedly as I sketched a dress on a piece of paper. Ruffles flowed over the shoulders elegantly, but the skirt stopped on one side just before it reached the knees. Rather squarely cut, the other side reached down to the ankles.

_Half mini-dress, half evening gown_. I smiled to myself. _Half and half, just like me._

I was beyond grateful that my gift had developed; it helped me to see myself in a new light. Where I had felt small and insignificant before, I now knew that I could definitely hold my own.

If only I'd had the gift this developed when Aro came with the Volturi to try to harm my family.

I became lost in the memory.

_The white, untouched snow stretched out before us as the host of icy vampires advanced. The animosity rolled off them in waves. The feeling of hate sent chills even through me, who was, on an average day, hotter than Jacob. _

The entire scene played back to me as though I was living it over again, and it left me feeling strangely cold and shivery. I wished fervently that I could have sped up time back then to the way I was now—maybe I could have been of some help, rather than just standing in the background waiting to hear a verdict issued for my slaughter.

I snapped myself back to reality and looked down at the sheet of paper which lay in front of me. This was here, this was now. The past was done and gone. I couldn't change that, and everything had worked out fine regardless, without my intervention. Still. . .I just wished. . .

I shook off the remainder of the chills and brushed back the unruly curl that had escaped again, securing it behind my ear. I picked up the pencil and forced myself to think of the pattern I had begun to sketch on the dress, and began shading in the left bottom corner of the skirt.

No matter that I was young and useless then. If my family was ever threatened again, I would be ready.

* * * * * *

Five thousand miles away, in Volterra, Italy, an aged vampire sat on his throne. His papery, gnarled hands stroked the intricate details carved into the gold relief on the armrest. Thin strands of hair hung down into his ancient red eyes that were surrounded by wrinkles, testifying to the long life he had lived before becoming immortal.

The old vampire cocked his head to the side and listened. He was certain he had just heard someone call his name. The voice was that of a young female, unfamiliar, yet he felt that he had somehow heard it before. He listened closer. Suddenly, a slideshow of pictures flashed before his mind's eye. A tall, slender girl with brown eyes crouched in a hunting stance in the middle of a forest. She stalked her prey silently, creeping between the ferns that overpopulated the ground. Next, he saw himself in a clearing, an army of vampires behind him and a little girl in front of him. In another moment, she stood again in that same clearing, the stress evident on her flawless features as she concentrated. She was surrounded by nine other creatures—eight vampires and one incredibly large wolf.

The eight vampires all had golden eyes.

The ancient vampire rose from his seat with a speed and grace that would have been entirely unexpected from someone of his obvious age. He snapped his fingers.

A small, dark, hooded figure appeared before him. "Yes, master?" came the sweet voice from underneath the cloak. A pair of glowing red eyes peered out of the flawless face shrouded in darkness.

Aro clasped his hands together eagerly. "Jane, dear," he said. "I have the most delightful news!"

**A/N: Mwahhahaha. Cliffies!! Don't you just love them? I do!!! *rubs hands together conspiratorially* So!!!! Review please!! Seriously. I know there are more of you out there reading this story than normally review. You can't let a cliffie like that just sit there and not say anything. REVIEW!!! **

Love, Cahryn K.

P.S. Have you noticed my new Penname? MorningSkyeSong....What do you think? No really, please do tell me what you think....


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Guys, I apologize with all my heart for this long hiatus. *gets on knees and looks up with puppy-dog eyes* I'm going to be utterly honest with you, because you deserve it. And because I suck for doing something so conniving. See, I've had this chapter ready and written for the longest time now, but I haven't posted it. Why? *cringes away from angry readers with pitchforks* Because I've been in a weird/annoying/crazy/sad writer's block with the next chapter, and, well, I've been afraid of exactly this happening. Me making you wait so long for an update. Funny how in trying to avoid something I do what makes the exact thing happen. *shakes head* I'm sorry guys. I'm starting to see a trend of how all my chapters are being headed by apologies...not good. I'm gonna do my best to put an end to that. In a pathetic attempt to make up for this, I'm giving you guys two chapters in one, because that's what this originally was; two chapters. But now, it's one. And it's got a lot packed into it. I really love how the relationship between Nessie and Jacob is building, and I tried to portray that here. He's really become Ness' whole world. And well, don't you just love to see a guy who's imprinted be all little-kid-like for his bff/future-significant-other? I know I do. It's just so adorable. Especially on Jake. *has moment of adorableness* So. You've waited long enough. Without further ado, here's chapter fourteen!**

Chapter 14

The wind whipped against my face, and I felt my hair stretching out behind me as the forest sped by. The giant form under me moved fluidly, and I buried my fingers in the russet brown fur to hold on.

"Can't you go faster?" I cried, the wind drowning out my voice and carrying it away behind me.

The huge form underneath me plowed against the earth harder, and I heard the enormous paws hitting the ground with more force than before. The wind picked up speed.

"Whooo!" I shouted.

Ten seconds later, we burst through the trees into a clearing, and I spotted a small shed up in front of us, approaching quickly.

"Wait!" I squealed, twisting away. "No, you're gonna crash into it! Jake!"

We didn't slow down one bit, and my laughter began to cripple my sides. The shed rushed toward me at inhuman speed.

"Jake!" I screamed. I had one last glimpse of wood and metal directly in front of my face before I felt myself violently jerked to the side and had to dig my fingers into the fur to keep from being thrown off my ride and into what would then have been a pile of scrap metal and drywood.

Seriously. That's what would have happened to the shed had I crashed into it.

I felt shaking beneath me and realized I was being shrugged to the ground. I clung stubbornly to the massive pair of shoulders and tried in vain to keep my legs wrapped around the giant torso. A barking laugh escaped a huge muzzle right next to my ear.

"Jake, you silly mutt, you nearly killed me!" I cried breathlessly as I succumbed to gravity's inevitable pull, letting myself fall to the ground.

He stood above me, a hulking dark brown form, and shook himself. I squealed and covered my face with my hands until he had finished. When all was silent except for our breath coming and going and his massive heartbeat, I peeked between my fingers up at his wolfy face.

"Eeek!" I cried. A gigantic black nose greeted me, followed by a long, wet, sticky, tongue. "_Jake-uh,_" I complained, scrubbing my hands violently against my jean shorts. He stretched his forelegs out in front of him and placed his head down on them, watching me. I detected more than a trace of humor in his dark eyes.

Reaching out to swat him, I missed, and suddenly, the huge form was loping for the woods and disappearing between the trees. It took only a moment for comprehension to sink in. I sat on the ground and waited, curling my knees up beneath my chin, and felt the light shimmer shake the air as he phased back to human.

Acting on impulse, I jumped up and darted inside the shed, squirming underneath the van seat which served as a sofa inside, situated beside the Rabbit. I waited, breathing as shallowly as possible as I heard the heartbeat approaching the garage.

"Ness?" Jake's confused voice traveled to me under the seat, and I stifled a giggle.

I heard him chuckle as the realization dawned on him that I was hiding. "And she calls me a silly mutt."

The footsteps paused, and I heard him deliberately take in a large breath. Uh-oh. I had forgotten about his uncanny sense of smell. Darn.

Two seconds later, I was being dragged out from underneath the makeshift sofa, squirming, pleading, and clinging for dear life to the metal bars beneath it that had served to anchor it down when it was in the vehicle.

Jacob caught me by the ankles and pulled me out, tickling my feet as he did so. I kicked with all my might, and got free, scrambling to my feet as soon as I realized I was loose and taking off out of the garage at full tilt.

I didn't dare look behind me for fear of losing momentum, but I could both hear and sense him gaining on me. Sure enough, a few yards later, I was knocked to the ground in a flying tackle and Jacob's enormous frame came to rest beside me with a thump.

I wasn't winded, but the landing had knocked the breath out of me, so rather than risk another round of tickles, which I didn't think I would be able to bear, I lay in the sand and dirt and looked up at the russet face framed by the messy hair that gazed down into my own.

"Jake," I panted. "There wasn't. . . any need. . . to go to such extreme measures."

His eyes twinkled. "Extreme measures?" he replied innocently, tickling my nose with a strand of my own hair.

"_Jake_," I swatted his hand away. "You. . . _bum_."

His laughter shook the ground underneath us as I crossed my arms and pouted.

He grinned down at me. "Alright, Nessie. I'm a bum. And you're a—," But he didn't get to finish his sentence. His gaze was suddenly fixed over my head at the door to his house, and a split second later I heard the reason behind his confused look.

"Jacob," Billy's voice sounded, deep and bass.

"Yea, Dad?" Jake replied, his face gone hard. I turned to look at Billy and saw that his expression matched Jake's. There was a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach.

"That was Bella on the phone. She said to bring Nessie home immediately." Billy wheeled his chair backwards, out of the way of the door, and swung it closed.

"Jake?" I looked up at him, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"How should I know? I've been here with you," Jacob replied in a cutting tone. I flinched at the venom in his voice and he noticed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to answer like that," Jake ran his hand through his tangled hair. "I just—wait here until I get back."

And with that he took off running toward the trees. I stood, rooted to the spot, feeling the shimmer in the air again as a similar shimmer ran down my spine. Although this one felt more like a shudder.

Jacob emerged from the trees, a giant wolf again. I raced forward to meet him, launching myself at him and landing in one smooth motion astride his back. He took off instantly through the brush.

Five minutes later, we slowed to a walk as we approached the big white house. Daddy was already out on the steps, waiting for us, with Mommy at his side. Alice sat beside them, her head in her hands. She looked up when we arrived.

Jacob deposited me neatly on the grass and trotted into the trees to change. I hurried across the lawn to my mother.

"What's the matter, Mommy?" I asked, looking up at her face. It shocked me to realize that I no longer had to look up very far. I was very nearly at eye level with her. She drew me into her arms and silently smoothed my hair down my back.

"Just a moment, Nessie," Daddy said, watching the trees where Jacob had disappeared as I watched him through the crook of my mother's arm. "We're waiting for Jacob."

Alice noticed me then. "What on _earth_ have you been doing, Renesmee?" she scolded, eyeing my muddied clothes. I reddened.

"I was. . . playing?" I said uncertainly. Normally I wouldn't have given a second thought to sullying the clothes she dressed me in; I literally had hundreds to spare. But the stress of whatever was going on had thrown me slightly emotionally off balance.

Alice clucked her tongue and shook her head at me. "If the designers only knew what you were doing to their creations, they would have instant cardiac failure and keel over dead." Now I rolled my eyes. It was so like Alice, to be distracted by something as trivial as the clothes I wore, when we obviously had something much more urgent going on.

Just then, Jacob came back onto the lawn, dressed in his usual pair of cutoff jeans and the string looped three times around his left ankle. He still wore the half worried, half angry expression he'd had earlier.

"Jacob," my Daddy greeted him. Jake nodded once in his direction. His eyes were fixed on my Mommy.

Out of nowhere, Jasper, Emmett, Aunt Rosie, and my grandparents appeared on the porch.

I felt suddenly calm. A glance at my uncle confirmed what I'd suspected as I saw him smile at me. I returned the smile gratefully.

Mommy sat down on the steps and turned me around, pulling me down with her. She held me a little too tightly.

"Mommy? Daddy?" I asked, my voice trembling a little. "What's the matter?"

"Alice had a vision," Mommy replied, her voice thick with stress. Alice's carefree attitude was erased as suddenly as it had appeared. I looked at her fearfully.

"The Volturi are coming back," Alice announced without further warning, and I felt my stomach lurch crazily.

This human side of me was getting more and more annoying as time went by.

"_What?_" Jacob hissed, and I saw his frame begin to tremble and blur.

"Jacob," my father said, calmly but firmly. His implication was understood by us all. He was warning Jake not to lose his temper and phase, with all of us nearby. In all reality, if he did phase, it probably wouldn't affect any of us in the slightest. But that was my dad for you—always worrying about my mom or me. He didn't seem to realize that I was far more capable of taking care of myself than I generally let on. _Sometimes I just liked being babied—if it meant I'd get my way._

Jake took a deep breath and clenched his fists together, obviously trying to calm himself. After a moment he opened his eyes, and the trembling had stopped. "I thought those suckers had gotten enough the last time they came around. What on earth more could those bastards possibly want from us?"

Emmett spoke up. "Well, if their lesson wasn't learned the last time, we can always crush them to bits this time around. I know Vladimir and Stefan would be glad to help out."

Grandpa Carlisle shook his head. "Violence is not the answer, son."

Daddy looked at Alice. "Could you see why they were coming?" he asked.

Alice shook her head. "I only saw that they would be here. And they are not bringing everyone with them this time."

"When are they coming?" Daddy pressed.

Alice lifted and dropped her shoulders mournfully. "The timing isn't decided yet. It seems like they're waiting for something. I'll see when they do decide, though. I'm watching them."

Daddy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, something I'd noticed he did when he was agitated. "Yes. Keep watching, Alice," he said, his voice strained. Mommy reached up with one hand and rubbed soothing circles on his back.

Alice nodded, her darkened eyes stressed and frustrated.

Grandpa Carlisle took the opportunity to speak. "Since we don't know their reason for coming, all we can do is to wait. When Alice gets another vision, hopefully it will be clearer, and we will have more of a hint towards what's bringing them back. Who knows? If they're not bringing the entire guard, it may be only a friendly visit after all." He sounded more hopeful than sure as he said the last part, and it wasn't lost on Daddy.

"_Friendly visit?_" Daddy's voice rasped. "Friendly visit and _Volturi_ are not two words that ever belong in the same sentence, Carlisle."

"All we can do is wait, Edward," Grandpa Carlisle replied gently. "There isn't anything else."

"There has to be another choice," Aunt Rosie spoke up. "We can't just sit around here waiting to die, like the last time. If they're not bringing everyone, then they have a plan—one that they're sure isn't going to fail."

I spoke up now. "But Grandpa Carlisle is the oldest of all of us. And he's even lived with Aro and the rest of them. He should know better than anyone else how they would act, and if he says all we can do is wait until they make another decision, what are we going to do? Fly over to Volterra and interrogate them?" Emmett looked like he wasn't at all opposed to that idea. I gave him a look. "It probably is best if we just make sure to be on our guard and wait for Alice to tell us what she sees next."

Aunt Rosie ground her teeth together, but she was effectively silenced. I was grateful that my designation as her favorite allowed me the privilege of contradicting her. The rest of the group seemed to be under the same influence.

Daddy sighed and looked at my mother, then at Grandpa Carlisle, then finally, back to me. I gave him the most confident look I could muster, though I knew it wouldn't make a difference since he could read my thoughts. But I was confident in Grandpa Carlisle, and he saw this.

After a long pause, he took a deep breath and offered me a crooked smile. "Alright. It does make sense for us to wait. It's aggravating, certainly, but what's life without a little adventure, right?" His half-hearted attempt at a joke for me was endearing, so I smiled at him in return.

"I'm going to go hunt," he continued. "Nessie, I don't want you to leave this house, understood?"

I was about to protest, but the look on his face silenced me. It was a mixture of pain and worry, with some traces of fatherly sternness thrown in. I nodded in defeat.

He turned to Jacob. "I would appreciate if you would stay with Nessie as long as you're available," he said.

"Of course," Jacob spat. "Do you really think I would leave her now?"

"No, I was merely asking as a matter of protocol," Daddy allowed. I heard him mutter under his breath. "Now I need to go burn off some of this stress." I didn't think I was meant to hear that last part, but he took off at a blurring speed around the back of the house, and when I listened carefully, I heard his bare feet land on the other side of the river that flowed behind there.

***************

It was a long two months. The first three weeks everyone but Emmett walked around on eggshells, halfway afraid to breathe too loudly. Daddy constantly pestered Alice whether she had seen anything new, only stopping when she threatened to "do something unforgivable" to his Aston Martin if he didn't let her be. I knew he still thought about it every moment of every day, but at least he managed to refrain from his constant interrogation of my poor aunt.

It was now the middle of July, and life was carrying on as normal—well, normal for me. I suppose it could be fairly argued that my life was nowhere even near the league of normalcy, but that would be overstating the obvious. Jake had practically moved in with us since Alice's vision, stalking my every move with an eagle's eye. He wouldn't let me out of his sight unless I had to use the bathroom, and even then, I'd had a hard time dissuading him from standing directly outside the door. He was taking this responsibility of protector thing a little too far.

"Jake," I began one afternoon, rolling the dice onto the Monopoly board spread out before us. "You do know that I'm not entirely human, right?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Not this conversation again."

"No, really," I insisted, picking up my little dog piece and moving it four spaces ahead.

"Aw, man—how much do I owe you?" I'd landed on Park Place, unfortunately owned by Jacob. He grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes. He knew I wasn't at all distracted.

"One hundred seventy five dollars."

"What? Why so much?" I asked.

"Because I have a house on it," he replied smugly. I growled under my breath, reaching beside me to my pile of money. "I need change for a five hundred dollar bill, please, and for you to change, as well, mister."

His eyebrow rose as he counted out the pieces of brightly colored paper. "Change? I thought you liked me how I was?" His voice rose in the tone of a question at the end.

"Well, I do—of course I do," I replied quickly. "I don't want _you_ to change. . .just. . .what you're doing."

"Well if you like I can gladly stop counting out this money and just add it to _my_ pile instead," he said wickedly. I narrowed my eyes at him and held my hand out expectantly.

He grinned widely as he slapped the money into my hand. "Just saying. You didn't seem to like what I was doing—I was counting out your change. It seemed like you wanted me to stop. . .isn't that what you said?"

"_Jake_," I hissed. "Stop being difficult. You know what I'm getting at. You're my best friend and I love you and always want you around, but that doesn't mean I want you bossing me around telling me I can't go somewhere or do something I want to just because a bunch of idiots five thousand miles away can't make up their minds!"

Jacob didn't bat an eye at my rant. "You know the reason, Ness. Those 'idiots' have tried to take us out before, with a pretty blunt approach the first time. They saw that we were ready and well protected, but there's fewer of us now. All your friendly leeches aren't here. And with the Volturi knowing this, do you really think they're going to be so boldfaced again? If it's been so long and your psychic aunt hasn't seen them make a decision, they must be planning some sort of sneak attack. And I can't allow that to happen. Not on my watch. Not to my Nessie."

My heart bubbled up a little inside me when he called me "his Nessie." It was sweet—the way he said it. I was his, and he wasn't going to let anything happen to me. But still. I wanted to be allowed to explore by myself. I'd snuck off alone to hunt one day when Daddy wasn't at home to hear my thoughts. And Alice still couldn't see me, so I was safe on that count. I'd wandered farther out into the forest than I ever had before, and my little excursion had paid off. I'd discovered a lovely little secluded place, perfect for sketching; or just sitting and thinking. It was beautiful. I wanted to go there again.

But Jacob wouldn't _let me_.

Ugh.

I'd definitely made a mistake in telling him about it.

I'd come home the afternoon I'd discovered it, bubbling over with excitement, hoping I'd find him at the big house waiting for me. He was, just as I'd hoped.

"_Jake!" I cried, throwing myself at him. "Guess what?"_

_He laughed, falling over backward with me landing on top of his chest. "What is it, __Nessie?" _

_I leant over and whispered in his ear. "I've got a secret to tell you."_

_His eyes grew wide at first, then crinkled into slits as he looked around slyly. He stood up and took my hand. "Come with me," he whispered. I was elated that he was going along with the charade, although I hadn't really expected anything else. _

_He led me out of the back door and then threw me onto his back, taking off running along the river which flowed behind the house. The motions of running were so smooth it felt like when I rode my daddy's back. I wrapped my arms around his neck as far as they would go and buried my nose in his ponytail. The strands of his hair whipped out from the wind and tickled the sides of my face as we flew along. _

_About five minutes later, we came to a stop and he squatted down so that I could slide off his back. I did so, landing on a large, moss covered boulder that reached maybe to his waist. I curled my legs up under my chin and patted the spot on the boulder next to me. __Jake sat down where I'd indicated, and curled one knee up, propping his elbow on it and turning to face me. He smiled. _

"_Now, what's this secret of yours?" he asked._

_I smiled in return, feeling the excitement bubble up inside. "Okay. You can't tell anyone, and you better not think about it when you're around anybody, either, okay? Promise me."_

_Jake nodded solemnly. "I promise."_

_I stuck out my fist toward him, pinky extended. He chuckled. "Pinky promise?"I asked._

_He smirked. "Pinky promise."_

"_Cross your heart, hope to die, stick a needle in your eye?"_

_Jake looked surprised. "Where'd you hear that one?" _

"_Claire uses it," I told him. "Now, cross your heart, hope to die, and stick a needle in your eye?"_

_He stifled a laugh and nodded. _

"_Say it," I demanded._

_Jake barely got through it without choking on his laughter, but I was serious. _

"_Good," I said. "Now do you wanna hear my secret? Or are you still gonna make fun of my measures of precaution?"_

_Jake sobered up instantly. "I'm sorry, Nessie," he said gravely. I giggled at his mock solemnity._

"_Okay," I stage-whispered. "So I snuck out of the house this morning—"_

_Jake's eyes grew to the size of saucers. I play-punched him. "Stop it and listen," I chided. _

"_I am listening," he insisted, "I just can't believe that little, innocent, oh-I'm-so-sweet Nessie actually broke a rule."_

_I frowned at him. "I'm not that goody-goody."_

_He laughed. "I'm listening."_

_I crossed my arms. "Forget it."_

"_Ness," he jutted out his lower lip, tugging at my arms. "Come on. Tell me, I was just kidding around with you. You know that."_

_I sighed. I couldn't deny Jake anything. I dropped my arms to my side and glared at him out of the corner of my eye. "Alright. Do you promise to just listen and not say anything until I'm done?"_

_He made the motion of locking his lips with an imaginary zipper and tossing the invisible key over his shoulder. I studied him for a moment more before I continued. _

"_So I snuck out this morning," I paused and looked pointedly at him to see if he would interrupt with some sort of smart remark or chuckle or smirk. His face remained in a perfectly calm mask while he waited patiently. "Since you know my Daddy wasn't home earlier, I climbed out of Alice's window and decided to go hunting. You were still sleeping, and I was thirsty," I justified myself quickly, seeing the question burning in his eyes of why I hadn't asked him to go with me. "I decided to go find a mountain lion, but I didn't find any, even when I got all the way out past the clearing where we play baseball. __So I just kept going, further and further, and had finally caught the scent of an elk when I saw it."_

_Jacob's eyes were watching me intensely. I allowed a pause for dramatic effect. _

"_Jake, it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," I said, remembering the little nook I'd found. _

_He interrupted me. "I highly doubt that," he said, cocking an eyebrow at me. I glared at him until he pretended to search for the invisible key around his feet and lock his lips again. _

"_Well, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," I told him. "It's this little corner, almost like in a house. But it's only trees forming it in a little semicircle, and then there's this miniature meadow that's only maybe twenty feet by fifteen, and, Jake, there's _benches_ there! Like, these old, wooden, broken down benches. . . they look so amazing __it's like something out of one of Aunt Rosie's photography magazines."_

_Jake nodded wisely and pointed to his lips. _

"_Yes, you can talk now," I told him. _

_He looked at me and sighed. "That's really cool, Nessie—,"_

_I grinned cheekily, slapping my thighs with my hands. "I know, isn't it? It's so sweet!"_

_I stopped when I realized he was watching me quietly. "What?"_

"_Where is this little corner of yours?" he asked me. _

"_Up on Hoh Mountain," I replied. "Why?" _

_His eyes flashed black. I wrinkled my eyebrows and frowned. "What, Jake?"_

"_I don't want you going back there alone," he said firmly. _

"_What? Why not?" I demanded. _

"_I. . .I just don't, Ness. It's not safe," he answered, and that was all I could get from him on the subject. _

Remembering this, I opted not to say anything more on him allowing me out on my own—for now.

"It's your roll," I told him. He picked up the dice and shook them around in his fist before releasing them onto the center of the board. He rolled a perfect six on both. It took him past Go again.

"You filthy rich puppy-dog," I muttered as I handed him two hundred dollar bills from the box, which served as the bank.

He smirked at me. "Call it as you see it."

Alice strolled into the living room. "You guys didn't invite me to play?"

"Sorry, Jakey and I have a bet going—whoever ends up with the most hotels by the end of this week has to do whatever the winner wants for two weeks straight. Anyone else in the game would mess up the odds." I looked over at my aunt with an apologetic smile.

"Hmph. I see how it is," Alice replied huffily. "And you two are the only ones I can play against fairly, because since I can't see you, I can't see how the game will turn out."

I gave her my best puppy dog eyes and she sighed. "Maybe next time, I guess. What's a girl supposed to do around here, anyway? It sucks waiting for something when you don't even really know what it is you're waiting for."

I nodded. "Tell me about it."

She thought for a moment. "Nessie, how would you like to go on a shopping trip?"

"No."

That was Jacob.

"Why _not_, Jacob?" I asked, bristling. Alice looked taken aback.

"I don't want you vulnerable," he replied. Alice frowned at him, a crease appearing between her eyebrows.

"You know I'm perfectly capable of protecting her, just as much as you," Alice said testily. "Besides, if the Volturi do decide to do something sneaky like you keep suggesting, and send someone we don't expect, the city is the last place they'll look for her. She'll be safe in a mall. You don't expect the _humans_ there to hurt her, do you?"

Jake looked at her angrily for a moment, but then the truth of her words seemed to sink in, and he relented.

"Fine. You have a point. But we're playing a game," he pointed out.

"Aw, Jake, we'll finish later. Please? I've been stuck in the house for two months now. I'll go insane if I don't get away," I begged.

"Sure, sure," he said, getting up and walking towards the kitchen. "Go have _fun_."

I turned to Alice. "He's mad at me."

"Aw, don't let it get to you, Ness. He's a guy, he'll get over it." Alice reached up and patted me on my head. I had had a growth spurt in June, and I was now nearly a foot taller than Alice. "We'll bring him back something good," she assured me.

A few minutes later, Alice had worked her magic on both my dad and mom, and we were climbing into her canary yellow Porsche _Turbo 911_. As I buckled myself in, I stole a glance at myself in the side mirror. My hair was pulled back into a stylishly messy bun, and I wore a teal and purple printed tank dress with strappy flat sandals, courtesy of Alice. I smacked my lips, studying the light as it reflected off the ultra-shiny lip gloss I wore.

"You look great," Alice told me as she revved the engine, whipping the car out of the garage and flying down the drive at sixty miles an hour. I glanced over at her.

"Thanks."

"No, really. Stop worrying and fidgeting. Anyone who goes out with me always looks the best," she flicked a glance over at me and smiled.

"I know," I told her.

We reached Seattle's largest mall, the Pacific Rim Center, in record time. It was just east of the I-5. The two stories loomed above us, with the tall glass windows reflecting the gray clouds overhead. After parking, we entered the mall and started browsing through the stores.

Alice was in her zone. I could tell.

After the first six stores, I carried four bags, and Alice carried five. She didn't only pick up clothes for herself and I, but for everyone in the household as well. We were just leaving G+G Rave with four new pajama sets for me when she seemed to remember her promise to me earlier.

"Come on," she said, turning to me. "Let's go get Jacob some clothes."

"Uh, Jacob doesn't really wear clothes," I pointed out.

"Well, then, we need to educate his taste," she replied, pulling me into a store faster than I had a chance to look at the name of it. We suddenly stood in front of a rack of jeans.

"Which do you think he would prefer, Armani or Diesel?" Alice mused.

I stared at her, dumbfounded. I didn't know anything about men's clothing, much less the type of clothes someone would prefer who clearly preferred to go about half-naked.

"Um. . .Armani sounds nice," I hazarded a guess.

"We'll just take both," Alice decided, grabbing two pairs of jeans off the rack. I shrugged and followed her to the shirt section.

"Do you even know what size he wears?" I asked.

She gave me a look of disbelief. "With my eyesight, I can tell what size everyone in this entire store wears," she said in a rather obvious tone of voice. I nodded distractedly, my thoughts already headed in another direction.

"Alice," I began, as she flipped through a rack of button down shirts.

"Yes, Ness?" she said absentmindedly. I knew it probably wasn't the best time to bring up anything important—Alice tended to zone out when she was shopping. But something Jacob had said was beginning to bother me.

"Remember when we were about to head out and Jacob told me to go have fun, but he said it in this hurt tone of voice?" I asked.

Alice nodded.

I tried to think of a way to put into words what I was feeling. It was too bad Alice couldn't _see_ me, or she'd have been able to understand what I was trying to ask her already. Life sucked for me sometimes.

"It seems like, sometimes, Jake gets. . .unnecessarily worried about me. Or, kind of hurt if I want to do something that doesn't involve him. More so than would be normal. I mean, it's not like I really know anything about normal, but why is it that he gets so offended if I want to do something girly, like go shopping? I guess I could understand if it was just about my safety, but why the sarcastic remark—go have _fun_? It doesn't make sense—it's not like he's. . ." My words faltered as I realized I was rambling. Alice was watching me patiently.

"Do you get what I mean?" I asked her.

She sighed, and then put on a dismissive, happy smile. "I do. Don't worry about it, Nessie. It's just that you two have been friends for your entire life. He's grown. . ._attached_. He just doesn't want to feel like he's losing his best friend." But there was something in her eyes that I caught a glimpse of before she masked it.

She turned away and picked out a gray, pinstriped button down with a black eagle on the left shoulder. "What do you think of this?"

I nodded, knowing that regardless of what I said, it was going to end up in the check-out pile anyway. It was a nice shirt after all. The color would go well with Jake's fierce black eyes. If he ever wore it.

"Do you suppose we should be worried about the Volturi coming back?" I blurted out.

Alice looked up in surprise. "What makes you say that?" she asked.

"Because Jake is making such a big deal about it," I said whiningly. "And honestly, it's making me a little bit scared."

"When the Volturi come, I don't think we have much to worry about. The pack has grown even more than the last time they were here, and you saw how frightened Aro was of them before. Well," she remedied, "You heard what your daddy said, anyway. Either way, we're well able to protect ourselves. We only need to know _why they're coming_, so that we can prepare ourselves mentally. That's all there is to it," she finished cheerily.

"Hmph," was all I replied. I decided to try and make myself useful. Maybe if I picked out a shirt for Jake myself, he wouldn't be so upset when we got back home. I turned to look at another rack of button downs when something silver caught my eye across the aisle.

I wandered over, picking my way through the racks until I reached the jewelry display case that stood near the counter. My eyes roved over the collection of chains and bracelets until I found the one that had caught my eye.

It was a silver pendant, oval in shape, hanging from a matching silver chain. Engraved in relief on the pendant was the head of a majestic wolf, howling at the moon.

It was perfect.

I asked the saleslady if I could have a look at it, and I saw her eye me up and down, obviously trying to guess my age and whether or not she should give me the chain to hold. If she only knew that I wasn't even two years old yet.

I tapped my foot impatiently. "Ma'am, I want to buy it for my brother, and my aunt over there is waiting for me to show her the one I've chosen. May I see it?"

Her eyes flickered over to where Alice was standing, and I saw a shadow of fear pass over her face after her initial reaction to Alice's stunning beauty. I smirked while she wasn't looking at me.

It rocked having vampires for aunts.

She hurriedly unlocked the case and pulled down the one I'd requested. I thanked her and made my way back over to Alice.

"Alice, look what I found. It's perfect for Jacob, don't you think?" I held up the chain, dangling it in front of her face.

Her eyes focused in on it for a split second and then zoomed out past it.

"Alice? Alice." I waved my hand in front of her eyes, but she didn't respond.

And I suddenly knew, that whatever she was seeing, it was very, very different from the scene that was surrounding us at that moment.

"Alice," I whispered.

Her eyes didn't focus back in.

"They've decided," she said breathlessly, and there was a chill to her voice that sent icy venom flooding through my veins.

The chain slipped from my fingers and clattered noisily to the floor, but even to my super-advanced hearing, it was barely audible. And I'm sure the same went for Alice.

**A/N: mwahahahahahaha!!! Another cliffie!! Sorry, I had to do it. It was beyond necessary. It was utterly necessary. It was...necessary. *finishes lamely* So. . .are you sated enough now to be able to review? Let me know what you think? If you like how Jake and Nessie are progressing? I think they're sooo cute together...he's like the over-protective big brother wolf. *smiles cheekily***

**Please do review. Reviews are better than Jake's super-sweet-protective side!**

**~Love, Cahryn K.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: And hello again, my dear readers. I have returned. **

**I'm awfully sorry for the long wait, but my life has just been the busiest of busies, and there wasn't much I could do about it. But I'm here now, and I've brought Nessie with me!!! =) And as if it wasn't busy enough, just tonight I had to run out of my house in my pajamas with my cat tucked under my arm and my guinea pig in a shoebox! Why? Because the house behind mine caught on fire, and the blaze was enormous, and the wind was blowing all the sparks and flames this way! I tell you the honest truth, I have never in my life been in a more frightful or life-threatening situation. But thank God that all is well; although the shed in which the fire started is completely demolished, gone; and at least half of the house, no other houses were touched, (including mine) and as far as I know, no one is hurt. It gave the block quite a scare, though. But at last, now that all is over and done with, I can finally post this chapter, hopefully without further ado.**

**Here you go!**

**Disclaimer: The current characters may not be mine, but the current storyline is. All credit still goes to SM for her genius and to God for inspiring her!! =)**

Chapter 10.

Alice broke every speeding limit there ever was on the way home. I sat in the passenger seat, too petrified to do more than stare at her numbly. Her jaw was set, and her eyes were piercing. Her expression screamed murder.

She had been too upset to explain anything to me, simply dragging me out of the store once we had paid for our items and rushing us to the car parked in the underground garage. I did hear what sounded like a long string of very unlady-like words being hissed under her breath as she dumped the shopping bags into the trunk.

But since then, she had been deathly silent.

And I was left up to my own imagination. Never a good thing in these types of circumstances.

My heart pounded into overdrive and I felt sick to my stomach at the thoughts of what Aro could possibly have in mind to do to us. And what he might do if we didn't comply. We had my mother as a shield, but still. Something about his sinister black cloak and papery, almost translucent skin coupled with his greedy, milky red eyes was enough to set my instincts to flee on hyper alert. Besides that, my last and only memory of him hadn't exactly been of the pleasant variety.

When we came around the last bend of the curving drive, my father was already waiting on the steps, his posture rigid with stress. His expression, too, promised grave danger to anyone who got in his way. As we pulled into the driveway, he melted into motion and flew down the steps to meet me. I was barely out of the car before I was crushed against him, my head cradled against his stone chest by his hand. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as tight as I could in return.

He looked over my head. "When are they coming, Alice?" His voice was tight and strained. I knew the effort it took for him to speak normally.

Alice didn't respond aloud, but I felt him stiffen underneath me in response to whatever had been voiced in her thoughts. For the moment, I was glad she hadn't spoken aloud. I myself was so tightly wound; I didn't need a deadline to make everything final yet.

The door opened, and Mommy flitted to our side, grabbing my hand that was wrapped around my father in one of hers and stroking my hair with the other. Her golden eyes were frantic with worry, although I could see she tried to portray a calm countenance, most likely for my sake.

I sent her a picture of a calm ocean, and she smiled down at me tenderly. I smiled up at her in return. We were suddenly surrounded by the rest of the family, including Jake. I broke loose from my parents' hold and ran to him, and he caught me up in his arms, letting me rest my head on his gigantic shoulder. I felt much safer now. Grandpa Carlisle stepped forward.

"So what's the verdict?" he asked, looking from my dad to Alice. When neither of them responded, he tried again. "Edward? Alice? What have they decided?" I noticed that he seemed to deliberately avoid the use of the name _Volturi_. I looked up at Daddy.

His eyes met mine, and I don't know what he saw in them, but whatever it was seemed to give him strength enough to speak.

"They are coming in two days."

There was a beat of dead silence, and then Jacob's deep voice boomed, "What the—" before he was silenced by a glare from my mother.

That seemed to open up the floor for a flurry of questions and activity.

"Aren't those greedy bastards done yet?"

"Why didn't Alice know sooner?"

"What more could they possibly want from us?"

And then it was dead silent once again, as everyone's eyes trained on me. I read the horror-struck expressions on everyone of their faces, and fearfully turned my head a fraction of an inch to include Alice in my view.

The helpless look on her face said it all.

I felt all color drain from my face.

"No!" I cried. "No! I'll never join the Volturi! They're cruel! They're horrible! I don't want to be a part of them!"

Jake hugged me closer. "Shh," he said. "No one's going to let them take you. No one's going to let them make you do anything you don't want to." I felt him stiffen, and he whispered under his breath. "They're going to have to go through my dead body first." I shuddered away from the thought of Jake in any type of pain, much less dead. My mind recoiled from the very ghost of such an idea. I knew if he died, so would I. Neither one of us could survive the death of the other. Our souls were linked. If one left this earth by any means, the other had to, as well. No matter if I was immortal. There were ways.

My mind raced ahead. They wanted me. How could they? How _dare_ they? I felt my fear ebbing away and a new emotion taking its place.

Anger. Fury. Heated wrath.

Those ridiculous excuses for imbeciles thought they could actually separate me from my family? All they had was a pathetic attempt at an aristocratic coven. They weren't even truly loyal to their leaders. They had to have a vampire with a special gift for binding and breaking ties with them at all times to keep them there. And they—no, _Aro_ thought he could come to _my home, my family, _and somehow take us apart?

He had another think coming.

Quite literally.

I wasn't so helpless this time. With my newfound ability to be able to project my thoughts into others minds from afar, we had discovered that I was also able to convince others to see my side of things, or even make them believe whatever I wanted them to.

I hadn't had much use for it around here—until now. _Aro_ wouldn't be convincing me of anything. _He _was going to see _my side _of things, and he would know how I really felt about him. It was about time he got a taste of his own medicine.

My father's voice intruded on my thoughts. "No, Renesmee."

I looked up in surprise. "What? What do you mean, no? No to what?" My questions ran together in disbelief.

"It would be very unwise of you to take your gift that far. Simply refuse whatever he asks of you. It's best if we are not on the offensive, but on the defensive when it comes to the Volturi."

After a moment's deliberation, I gritted my teeth, but nodded. Now wasn't the time to start being reckless.

"I'm going to coordinate with the pack," Jake said, putting me down. He still held a firm grip on my hand, though.

"How many of them are there, Alice?" Grandpa Carlisle asked. Daddy answered for her, as he often did when he was stressed.

"Nine of them. Aro, Caius, Marcus, Renata, Chelsea, Felix, Demetri, Jane and Alec. They want to make sure they are at least not outnumbered by vampires."

Mommy snorted. I echoed her sentiment. So they didn't regard the wolves, huh?

"Aro doesn't believe we would allow the wolves to harm him," Daddy said to me. "He has a great deal of faith in us." A grim smile turned up the corners of his mouth.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"It's the only reasonable explanation I can think of for him not bringing everyone along again. He just has to trust that we won't give in to the volatile side of our nature. Although I'd like to—thinking of taking my daughter away from me." His hands unconsciously curled into claws at his sides.

"He's such a—" I allowed every foul adjective I could ever remember having heard my uncle Emmett use complete the sentence in my head. My father glanced over at me with a shocked expression, but then a wry smile turned up the corners of his mouth.

"You are so like your mother," he said ruefully. Mommy looked at him askew, but he simply shook his head and chuckled. Then he turned back to me. "I can't say I blame you at the moment, Renesmee, but if I ever hear any of those words actually leave your mouth, well, just don't let it happen," he warned, but there was an underlying hint of amusement still crinkling the corners of his eyes.

"Yes, Daddy," I replied.

Aunt Rose stroked my hair. "Will we need witnesses again? I have the Denalis on speed dial. Although I think Kate and Garrett have taken off somewhere together. . ."

Uncle Em waggled his eyebrows. "I knew they would be at it sooner rather than later!" He smacked his hands together loudly and rubbed them together.

"Emmett!" That was my mother, disapproval clear in her tone. What was the matter? She looked at him with a flash of fire in her eyes, and then very pointedly at me. _I _had no clue what he was talking about, so I didn't see the need for all the hostility. But I wisely kept my mouth shut. Emmett always did enjoy antagonizing Mommy, so whatever it was, it couldn't have too much to do with me.

"I want to go to my room," I said suddenly. My father looked down at me.

"Perhaps you should stay with one of us…" he began, but my mother cut him off before he could continue.

"Let her go," she said, looking at me tenderly. "She wants to be alone." I saw concentration on her face when she looked at him after saying this, and realized that she was hefting her mental shield out of her mind to allow him access to her thoughts. Whatever she showed him must have convinced him, because he stepped to the side to give me passage to the house. I offered him a quick smile and hurried up to the porch and through the door.

Once inside, I went first to the kitchen to get myself a drink of apple juice. It wasn't the best tasting thing in the world, but my parents would never let me go hunting now, and water, the only other choice, was simply atrocious.

As I stood by the sink next to the refrigerator, the frosted glass in my hand, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

I wasn't alone.

Spooked, I whirled around at vampire speed, my eyes darting around the kitchen. I saw nothing out of the ordinary, but the lace curtains floated airily on a carefree breeze that whisked its way in through the window beside me, causing the wind chimes to clink against each other musically. My instincts were still on hyper-alert, though, and I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a pair of eyes trained on me from somewhere.

Unfriendly eyes.

With trembling hands, I downed my apple juice in one swig and rinsed out the glass. Setting it upside down in the dish rack, I hurriedly dried my hands on my dress as I made my way out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I hightailed it down to the end of the hall, bursting through the last door—the door to the room which had been my father's old bedroom before my parents were married. It had become my room now for whenever I spent the night at this house.

I sank down into the familiar black sofa and curled my knees up to my chest, taking in my surroundings and trying to calm my breathing. There was hardly anything left from when it had been my dad's room except this sofa; Alice didn't let a single opportunity go by where she could give something a makeover—be it a person or a room. There were sheer white curtains with pink polka dots hanging from a curtain rod over the wall length window, and the wrought iron bed had been replaced by a flourishing white bed with a large, romantic styled headboard, overflowing with pillows and quilts—as though I'd ever be cold enough to need them. The walls had been painted a soft blue, and the floor was scattered about with colorful rugs in the shapes of various flowers.

Yes, Alice's tendency to go overboard had definitely kicked in.

I had only insisted on keeping the black sofa because I wanted to feel close to my family's history. I knew my mother had slept on this sofa when she was dating my father, and though it was a constant thorn in Alice's side, she allowed it to stay, under the conditions that if I ever had company _from anyone, _namely her, I _must _cover it with a white blanket so that it wouldn't "ruin the aesthetic effect."

I was all too happy to oblige if it meant I could keep this small piece of my parents with me when I wasn't at home in the cottage.

I curled up in the white blanket now, though I was far from cold. Why had I ever wanted to come up here alone, I wondered. It had seemed like a good idea at the moment, surrounded by all of my family who could protect me, but alone is never a good thing when you've got an overactive imagination and a spooked brain.

And I was definitely spooked by whatever had been watching me in the kitchen.

I didn't feel whatever it was now, but that didn't shake the lingering effects of my scare.

Should I tell them what had happened? No…they'd only worry more. I didn't want to cause them any more stress than they were already feeling, especially my dad. I knew he didn't handle stress very well. A small smile escaped me. How he would argue back if he knew that I thought that—but the fact of the matter was, I was very much like my father, and I myself didn't handle stress the best of ways. I was beginning to see that now.

It irked me. I tried to think of ways to make myself braver, more responsible; less susceptible to fear. It tired my brain out, and soon I found myself slipping into unconsciousness.

Just as I was hovering on the edge of blissful ignorance, familiar voices drifted to me through the murky atmosphere.

One voice sounded like my father's. "What will come of all this, Alice?"

There was silence for a moment, and I slipped a little bit farther out into the sea of unconsciousness. A windchime voice, high and trilling, floated over my ears. "I don't know, Edward. I can't see—ugh. I can't . I can see up until the moment that they arrive, but as soon as they come into contact with Nessie—everything goes black." The trilling voice held a note of frustration.

"Look past that. See what happens after it's over," my father's voice pressed. There was silence for a longer period of time, and just as I was about to slip away entirely, Alice's voice came to me once more.

"I can't see it, because I can't see what decision Nessie is going to make—how she's going to handle herself. That will be the catalyst that either ignites something or diffuses the situation—and I can't know how it will turn out. It's all resting on her…it's really all up to her."

And the darkness enveloped me.

* * *

**A/N: Again!! I know, I know, I talk too much. But please, if you're still around reading this story, I'd love to know, and any thoughts, feedback, corrections, worries, ideas, I'm open to it all! You can still have a say in what happens.....you know....**

**REVIEW!!!!!**


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